Abstract
Among several naturally occurring environmental factors, temperature is considered to play a predominant role in controlling proper growth and flowering in geophytes. Most of them require a “warm-cold-warm” sequence to complete their annual cycle. The temperature optima for flower meristem induction and the early stages of floral organogenesis vary between nine and 25 °C, followed, in the autumn, by a several-week period of lower temperature (4–9 °C), which enables stem elongation and anthesis. The absence of low temperature treatment leads to slow shoot growth in spring and severe flowering disorders. Numerous studies have shown that the effects of the temperature surrounding the underground organs during the autumn-winter period can lead to important physiological changes in plants, but the mechanism that underlies the relationship between cold treatment and growth is still unclear. In this mini-review, we describe experimental data concerning the temperature requirements for flower initiation and development, shoot elongation, aboveground growth and anthesis in bulbous plants. The physiological processes that occur during autumn-winter periods in bulbs (water status, hormonal balance, respiration, carbohydrate mobilization) and how these changes might provoke disorders in stem elongation and flowering are examined. A model describing the relationship between the cold requirement, auxin and gibberellin interactions and the growth response is proposed.
Highlights
The term “geophytes” usually refers to species with a very short aboveground growth period in spring, which survive through the winter period by seed, and in the form of specialized underground storage organs [1,2]
We review the currently known temperature requirements for flower initiation, development and anthesis in geophytes, with a particular emphasis on physiological mechanisms that are affected by temperature
We have shown that low temperature activates the apoplastic route for sugar movement from the storage parenchyma cells into the apoplastic region of the bulb
Summary
The term “geophytes” usually refers to species with a very short aboveground growth period in spring, which survive through the winter period by seed, and in the form of specialized underground storage organs [1,2]. Optimal temperature for the initial organogenesis ranges from 15 to 21 °С, while low positive temperature is required for the development of a flower stalk and well-formed flowers (Table 1) [1]. This period of autumn-winter cooling seems to be extremely important for flower development, as its absence leads to slow shoot growth and severe flowering disorders [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. A hypothesis of how temperature may regulate shoot elongation and flowering is presented
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