Adventitious staminate flower formation in gibberellin treated gynoecious cucumber plants

• Published in: Plant and cell physiology 1977-12, Vol.18 (6), p.1193-1201
• Main Authors: Fuchs, Edna, Atsmon, Dan, Halevy, Abraham H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0032-0781; 1471-9053
• DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.pcp.a075540

Single gibberellin (A4+7) treatments induced the appearance of staminate floral buds in several consecutive nodes on the main stem of genetically female cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). The staminate buds appeared next to pistillate buds which showed various degrees of degeneration. Similarly, repeated GA treatments induced the appearance of staminate flowers in otherwise strictly hermaphrodite plants, next to bisexual flowers. However, the bisexual buds, unlike the pistillate ones, did not show any deleterious effects of the GA treatment. Therefore, it is inferred that the hormonally induced staminate buds did not develop by sexual reversion of would-be pistillate or bisexual buds, but rather, represent adventitious buds which, in normally grown female or hermaphrodite plants, never develop. It thus seems that predetermined pistillate or bisexual buds do not change into staminate ones, while change in the reverse direction has been demonstrated in the past (at least for the gynoecious ones). The effectiveness of the GA treatment in the gynoecious plants showed an acropetal gradient both within the affected region, as well as along the main stem. Autoradiographic histological examinations showed that the course of development of the induced staminate floral bud did not differ from that of normally developing buds.