Excised barley embryos were treated with methyl methanesulphonate and cultivatedin vitro in water or in a nutrient medium. The alkylating compound induced a high frequency of chromosome aberrations observed at anaphase and metaphase and depressed the mitotic division in the root-tips of excised embryos.

In contrast to their soil counterparts, algal fulvic acids were more inhibitory than the corresponding humic acids. Fulvic and humic acids fromFucus vesiculosus were more efficient than the correspondingLaminaria digitata acids in inactivating the enzyme.Laminaria humic acids, which have no phenolic hydroxyls, showed a concentration dependent inhibition hardly in accordance with the presumed role played by these groups in the activity of oxidases.

Time-lapse microcinecmatography showed that the negative prototactic response of the chloroplast lasted 11-19 min and was completed 40 min after the beginning of irradiation; the contraction reached 11% in 60 min.

A propagation method for someFreesia cultivars usingin vitro cultures is described. Bud and root formation was evoked in callus tissue culture on a modified Murashige and Skoog's medium. Reconstituted plants were transferred into soil and cultivated in the glasshouse.

The tips of the rhizomorphs ofSphaerostilbe repens transferred on agar medium regenerate some aggregated organs without an intermediate mycelium stage. Each extremity of the drawn rhizomorphs can give rise to eoremia on its air face and to rhizomorphs on the contact with tho culture medium. These heterogeneous environmental factors impose polarized regeneration, easily inverted, upon the rhizomorphs. Nevertheless, a residual and stable polarity remains; it is attributed to the apex which is more capable of bearing new organs than the other extremity. Tho efficiency to regenerate depends on the ago of collulos and on tho size of tho rhizomorph tip; howover it is very difficult to provent the formation of new aggregated organs.

Uridine-³H incorporation and RNA concentration were investigated in different parts of the shoot apical meristem ofChenopodium rubrum using autoradiography and cytophotometry. A single inductive cycle was sufficient to bring about postinductive first events in the shoot apex but not for complete flower differentiation. The initial activation of RNA synthesis manifested itself in all zones of the apex. The first increase was more conspicuous in the peripheral than in the central zone. The indications of the first events in the apices after a single inductive cycle disappear prior to morphological reversal to the vegetative state. Induction by three short days led to rapid flower differentiation. The increase in RNA synthesis and concentration was most conspicuous in the central zone in this case. The ratio of RNA synthesis and content between bud and leaf primordia (B/L) also change in relation to photoperiodic induction. In vegetative plants the B/L ratio was low while after induction it increased.
The shifts in activity of RNA synthesis observed in the shoot apical meristem are related to the changes in growth activity of the different parts of the apex. The growth ratios in the apices bear the character of growth correlations. The change in the growth correlations following photoperiodic induction together with the total activation of RNA synthesis are considered to represent one of the first events of the transition to the reproductive state.

The effect of mannitol, glucose and sucrose on the stomatal behaviour of two desert species,Merremia aegyptia andM. dissecta has been studied. Stomatal opening did not uniformly depend on the decrease in turgor of the epidermal and subsidiary cells caused by the different osmotic potential of the sugars. Sucrose caused plasmolysis of the subsidiary cells only but this was not accompanied by the opening of the stomatal pore. InM. aegyptia, no plasmolysis was seen either in epidermal or subsidiary cells, even the stomata opened; inM. dissecta, on the other hand, plasmolysis occurred in these cells without any stomatal opening, after incubation in glucose or mannitol. Mannitol is least absorbed, glucose slightly more and sucrose is absorbed to a very large extent in the guard cells when the materials were inoubated in the respective sugar solutions. However, the absorption of these three sugars was almost always larger in isolated epidermal strips than in discs; in detached intact leaves it was still more reduced.

The effect of gibberellic acid, benzyladenine and a mixture of these compounds on the activity of some hydrolytic enzymes was studied in hyacinth bulbs non-exposed to low temperatures. Plant growth regulators were applied on the heel of dormant bulbs in the middle of July. An intensive elongation of the inflorescence was observed only in the plants treated previously with GA₃ and grown in a warm greenhouse for 63 and 84 days. The activities of amylase, invertase and acid phosphatase were higher in the flower buds of unrooted bulbs treated with growth regulators than in the control plants, although growth regulators did not affect the level of extractable proteins. The elongation of the inflorescence in the plants treated with gibberellic acid was correlated with a sharp increase of invertase activity in this organ. The effect of GA₃ and BA on the activity of other enzymes in buds and scales varied with the period of plant growth.

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) MERR. CV. 'Amsoy') plants were grown for 40 days in nutrient solution at various concentrations of ammonium. Maximum yield of dry matter was obtained at a concentration of 715 μM. Further increase in the concentration of ammonium resulted in a reduction in growth due to ammonium toxicity which affected both root and shoot development. The pattern of nitrogen accumulation in tops was consistent with the multiphasic uptake of ammonium and can be represented by 2 phases in the range 1.78 X 10-⁵-3.57 x X 10-³ M of ammonium.

Preparations of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) were prepared from germinating seeds by a procedure including fractionation with ammonium sulphate, desalting on a column of Sephadex G-25 and chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, the specific activity of ADH was in the case ofPhaseolus 31 times,Brassica 43 times,Triticum 47 times, andVicia 212 times higher than that of crude extract. The enzymes were homogeneous when filtrated on Sephadex G-200. Molecular weight of all the four studied ADH was approximately 63 000. Some kinetic properties as K_m for ethanol as substrate, substrate specificity towards different alcohols, and the effect of some intermediates of sugar metabolism and of some inhibitors on the activity of the enzymes were also followed. The results obtained are discussed with respect to possible mechanism of action of the plant ADH.

Big vein disease occurring on lettuce plants cv. 'Pražan' was identified and the susceptibility to this disease was tested on 9 lettuce cultivars of foreign origin. Lettuce big vein virus was confirmed to be the cause of the disease. The transmission of the LBVV by the fungusOlpidium brassicae (Wor.)Dang., the sporangia of which were found by microscopy in the cells of surface tissues of lettuce roots, was experimentally proved. Rod-like particles, the average length of which was estimated at 244 nm, were found in the roots of diseased plants. LBW transmission by mechanical inoculation and by aphids could not be proved.

The main enzymatic oxidation products of IAA have been tested for biological activity, using as bioassay the straight-growth test ofAvena coleoptile. After being purified by rechromatography, none of these products (including methyleneoxindole) exhibited biological activity within the wide range of concentrations employed; consequently, the results accord with the evidence that IAA is the true hormone of plant growth.

For the separation of α- and β-glucosidase and α- and β-galactosidase isoenzymes fromZea mays L. andVicia fabaL. root tips the system of disc electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel developed for basic protein separation proved most suitable. The detection was carried out by a simultaneous azocoupling reaction. In maize α-glucosidase was not detected, β-glucosidase gave 3, α-galactosidase 4, and β-galactosidase 3 zones. In broad bean a- and β-glucosidases were absent, α-galactosidase gave 2 and β-galactosidase 3 zones, α- and β-galactosidase activity zones correspond principially to each other in their position. In maize one zone gives a positive reaction for both β-glucosidase and α- and β-galactosidaso.

Kinetin at a concentration from 3.10^-6 M to 1.10^-3 M was applied to the plumule ofChenopodium rubrum plants during photoperiodic induction. Different levels of induction were compared (one and three short days). The higher concentrations of kinetin applied to induced plants inhibited flower formation. The rate of leaf initiation was increased under these treatments. Lower concentrations of kinetin (from 3.10^-6 M to 1.10^-5 M) usually promoted lateral bud formation and flowering. The step-wise application of kinetin revealed that the inhibitory effect on flowering had been restricted to the inductive period.
The effects of kinetin, benzyladenine and trans-zeatin were compared in plants partially induced by two short days. High concentrations always inhibited flowering. Benzyladenine was the most effective in this respect.
Root removal diminished the inhibitory effects of cytokinins on flowering as was stated with benzyladenine.
It is assumed that endogenous cytokinins play a role in the regulation of organogenetic activity of the stem apical meristem. Depending on the photoperiodic conditions, they presumably exert their activity by maintaining the vegetative functions of the apex.

The endonuclease activity specific for apurinic sites in DNA was detected in barley embryos. The enzyme was partially purified. It reveals high activity on partially depurinated DNA but low or nil activity on intact and alkylated DNA. The method used for the detection of enzyme activity was based on the changes in the sedimentation velocity of substrate DNA in neutral sucrose gradients with 80 % formamide.

Tartaric acid is synthesized on light in the leaves ofTamarindus indica L. and is translocated to the flowers during flowering seasons. The translocation of this acid to fruits keeps peace with their growth rate. The decline of the tartaric acid content per unit fresh weight in mature fruits is not due to their utilization or conversion, but largely due to the setting up of the seeds which are devoid of any tartaric acid. Tartaric acid content in both the leaves and fruits show variation in different seasons, while malic acid does not show any change excepting a small increase in March.

Leaf angles, frequency distribution of leaf area inclinations, leaf area index, amount of intercepted radiation, biological, vegetative and grain yields and grain yield proportion of biological yield were determined in maize stands of two population densities, 55 555 plants ha^-1 (S₁), and 80 000 plants ha^-1 (S₂). Also the effect of the artificial change of leaf angle upon these indices was studied. We classified normal maize stand (N) as the interstage between a planophile and a plagiophile type of canopy, that with artificially changed leaf angle (V) as an erectophile type of canopy. The relative interception of the incoming radiation in the variantsV S₁ andV S₂ was lower than in the variantsN S₁ andN S₂. The variantsV in comparison with variants N increased grain yield and biological yield.

The changes of content and some chromatographic characteristics and biological activities of natural free cytokinins were studied during the vegetation season in the growing apices of apple tree shoots. Biological cytokinin activity was discovered in two groups of compounds differing in the time of their biological actions. Rf values and in the time of their maximal content in the growing apices. The time of maximal content was in accordance with their biological activity.

The occurrence of beet mild yellowing virus (BMYV) on feeding- and sugar-beet in Czechoslovakia has been proved. The virus was transmitted by aphidMyzus persicae (Sulz.) on indicator plantsSinapis alba L.,Capsella bursa-pastorisMedik, andClaytonia perfoliataDonn and from these plants back to sugar-beet cv. 'Dobrovická A.' A weed plantRaphanus raphanistrum L. was identified as a new natural host plant of BMYV. The virus was identified in ten of twelve biologically examined samples of beet with BMYV-like symptoms, which were collected at various places in Czechoslovakia

A modified procedure for the extraction of betacyanin fromAmaranthus seedlings is described. Application of this modification increased the absorbance of cytokinin-treatedAmaranthus explants in most cases. The modifiedAmaranthus test is compared with the soybean callus test in the bioassay of kinetin, 6-benzylaminopurine, and 6(δ,δ-dimethylallyl) aminopurine.