The effect of plant growth regulators and their interaction with electric current on winter wheat development

Abstract

The aim of the experiments presented here was twofold. On the one hand, to study the influence of plant growth regulators, i.e. auxins (IAA and NAA), cytokinins (kinetin, zeatin and zeatin riboside), gibberellins: (GA3) and polyamines (spermidine, spermine and putrescine) on the generative development of winter wheat plants, while on the other to study the interaction of plant growth regulators with electric current in affecting the efficiency of the flowering of wheat plants. Winter wheat var. Grana was subjected to a short vernalization (2 weeks at 5°C + 10 days at 10°C) on Murashige and Skoog medium containing growth regulators at different concentrations. For selected substances, seedlings were additionally treated with electric current by applying a constant voltage for a given period of time (30 V for 30 s or 1.5 V for 1 h) with the anode or the cathode inserted into apical leaves and the reference electrode into the media. After that, the seedlings were transferred to a glasshouse (20/17°C) where they were grown until heading was achieved. All the substances studied stimulated the generative development of winter wheat, in contrast to non-treated plants (control), especially at their highest concentrations. Spermidine, kinetin and GA3 were the most effective in this process as they stimulated 100–80% of generative plants (whereas for the control the percentage stood at only 30% plants). The studied regulators also increased the rate of generative development, i.e. shortening the length of the vegetative phase (by about 30% in comparison with the control). Moreover, these substances treatments decreased the fresh mass of both seedlings and flowering plants and increased the number of spikelets in the ear. The electric current treatment interacted with the applied substances: the anode insertion into the leaves generally increased, whereas the cathode insertion decreased, the inductive effect of the growth regulators on generative development. However, the inhibition of the flowering process was more pronounced than the induction. Moreover, the passage of electric current shortened the time to heading. This decrease in the length of the vegetative phase was more visible after the anode was inserted into the leaves. The least noticeable effect of the electric current interaction with plant growth regulators on both the generative development and the time of heading was observed for auxins.