Haploid tobacco plants (cv. Samsun) form inflorescences with a larger number of flowers than diploid plants. Leaves of haploid plants were shown to have lower free IAA level (by 40 %), higher peroxidase (by 160 %) and IAA-oxidase (by 70 %) activities and produce less ethylene (by 25 %) than leaves of corresponding diploid plants. The increase of peroxidase activity in haploids was due to the increase in the activity of the cathodic isozyme which is known to have high IAA-oxidase activity. It is proposed that higher peroxidase/IAA-oxidase activity in haploid plants may take part in IAA catabolism, at least duringin vitro culture of haploid explants. Lowered IAA level and ethylene production may then be directly correlated with a larger number of flower buds; as a higher IAA level is generally considered to act as a background inhibitor of flowering.

In this study the pattern of storage protein deposition in the developing seeds of xHaynaldoticum sardoum was examined. The accumulation of the various protein classes did not differ greatly between the two lines tested (Culmo Pieno and Culmo Vuoto). Nevertheless, some differences in the deposition pattern were revealed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In particular, the mature seeds of the two lines presented different electrophoretograms for the prolamin and glutelin proteins. These patterns reflect the differences between the two lines, which could play a role in their ability to adapt to environmental changes.

The hypocotyls, cotyledons, leaf blades, whole leaves and petioles of seedlings ofAilanthus altissima are capable of producing callus and budsin vitro. Buds and callus were also obtained from whole leaves and internodes of 2-years old plantlets grownin vitro. From the calli buds differentiated and later, both from buds developing directly without a callus phase and alsovia a callus phase, well developed shoots were formed. The cultures were mainained on MS medium in 2 combinations: A) IAA - 0.2 mg 1^-1, BAP - 1 mg 1^-1, GA₃ - 0.5 mg 1^-1, thiamine - 4 mg 1^-1 and sucrose 3 %; B) BAP - 0.5 mg 1^-1, IAA - 1 mg 1^-1, casein hydrolysate 400 mg 1^-1, thiamine 4 mg 1^-1 and sucrose 3 %. Excised shoots, which had developedde novo in culture, produced roots when incubated on the basic mineral medium of MS with the addition of IAA. The regenerative potential ofA. altissima is very high and this woody species seems to be an ideal object for various morphogenetic studies.

Growth of soybean was not altered, whatever the inorganic N-source (NO₃, NH₄ or a NO₃/NH₄ mixture); conversely, growth of Erica x darleyensis plants in vitro decreased more in. NH₄ medium than in a NO₃ medium, compared to a NO₃/NH₄ medium. The GS/GOGAT pathway (in NH₄ medium), the nitrate and nitrite reductase activities (in NO₃ medium), as the contents in free nitrogenous forms and total nitrogen (in NO₃ and NH₄ media) were not more altered in Erica than in soybean, compared to a NO₃/NH₄ medium. PEPCase activity was the highest in soybean irrespective of the N-treatments; the involvement of PEPCase in N-metabolism could be explained by its function in ionic and osmotic balances rather than its function in supplying carboxylates as acceptors for NH₄-assimilation.

The possible implication of ethylene on the growth regulation of etiolated lupin hypocotyls was investigated. Excised hypocotyl sections from actively growing seedlings produced ethylene at a rate of 3 nmol h^-1 g^-1 min^-1. The rate of ethylene production was increased about 7 times when sections were treated with 10 mM 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC). Measurement of endogenous ACC showed that 95 % of total ACC (64.2 nmol g^-1 min^-1) corresponded to conjugated ACC.
Treatments to intact seedlings with the ethylene precursor ACC, and the ethylene generating compound, 2-chloroethyl phosphonic acid (ethephon) during the cell elongation phase of the hypocotyl (from 7 to 21 dage), modified the cell growth of the organ. ACC (1 or 5 mM) or low concentrations of ethephon (0.66 mM) produced a transient decrease in the growth rate without modifying the final length of the hypocotyls. Higher concentrations of ethephon reduced the final length; the younger the seedlings were, the greater the reduction. Simultaneously to inhibition of cell elongation, ethephon produced stimulation of the radial expansion of cells in pith and cortex.
The growth inhibition period, which lasted for 2 days after the treatments, was followed by another period in which the growth rate of treated plants surpassed that of the control. In both cases differences were observed along the hypocotyls due to the different growth status of the cells. It is suggested that the sensitivity to ethylene and the metabolism of ethylene depend on the growth status of the cells.

A pre-treatment of 40 °Cprovided thermoprotection to wheat seedlings against 43 °C, which was otherwise a lethal temperature. Due to temperature pretreatment, the rate of protein synthesis at 45 °C increased in both plumules and radicles. The HPLC profile of plumule and radicle proteins of thermoprotection-acquired seedlings was different from the plumules and radicles of non-treated seedlings.

Primary roots ofVicia faba were grown for 24 h in the presence of tritiated thymidine (1.85-18.5 kBq ml^-1) and then irradiated with a dose of 1.5 Gy of⁶⁰Co-gamma- rays. The aim of these experiments was to determine whether low-level endogenous beta-irradiation from incorporated radioactive thymidine could influence the frequencies of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and the numbers of micronuclei induced by subsequent external irradiation with high doses of gamma-rays. The results demonstrated that the pretreatment with³H-dTh had no significant effect on the frequencies of SCEs in gamma-irradiated root tip cells ofVicia faba. In contrast to SCEs, the yields of micronuclei in the³H-dTh pretreated cells were altogether less than the yield induced by gamma-rays alone (protective effects).

Spring barley seedling were grown in the dark for 21 d and respiration rates of the whole plant (including the seed), of the shoots, and of the roots were determined. A function describing the growth and maintenance components of respiration was interpolated through the experimental points and its parameters in plants under different mineral nutrition were compared. The plants grown in a complete nutrient solution showed the highest growth rate in the initial phase of development and thus reached the maximum respiration rate earlier than plants in the other variants. The highest proportion of substrate was respired in the shoot. Plants grown under deficiency of phosphorus and magnesium had a slower respiration rate than plants grown in the complete nutrient solution (NP), whereas the amount of respired substrate in plant parts was similar to that recorded in the NP plants. Plants grown in distilled water showed the lowest growth efficiency and respirated the highest proportion of substrate in the root.

Variations in water content, relative water content (RWC), pressure potential and intracellular pH (pH) had been studied as factors of bud growth in rose plantlets grown in vitro for micropropagation. During the phase of healing, pressure potential and pH, were high enough to allow bud growth. During the following growth phase only buds of the lower part of the stem were able to grow. The growth ability of these buds and the growth inhibition of the others, associated with ΔpH, were retained during the last three days of culture, when dry matter content and RWC were the lowest. The results also showed a tight link between pH, and pressure potential. This may enable to distinguish different stages of plantlet development in vitro.

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of water stress on cell division, relative frequency of different phases of mitosis and mitotic index in root tips of two cultivars of Eragrostis curvula (Schrad. Nees) (weeping lovegrass). The water stress treatment affected both cultivars by increasing mitotic index as a result of changes in the relative frequency of cells in interphase and prophase with marked increases in the prophase index. These increases were more evident in the less resistant cultivar. Changes in the relative frequency of other phases were also observed. The presence of cells with persistent nucleoli was detected, and the number of these cells increased with the lowest medium water potentials.

Germination and seedling growth of pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Rachna) was studied in salts and PEG-6000 solution having osmotic potentials -0.1, -0.2, -0.3, -0.4 and -0.5 MPa. At equivalent level of stress, NaCl proved more harmful to germination, seedling growth, vigour index, as well as initial mobilizing efficiency of food material from seed to the growing seedling, while PEG-6000 was more harmful to imbibition rate and mobilization efficiency in further days.

Shoot multiplication of hornbeam was stimulated onWPM, QL andDKW medium supplemented with a low concentration of BAP or BPA (0.1-0.2 mg I -1) andIBA (0.1 mg I -1). Low concentration of thidiazuron promoted axillary bud formation, higher concentration inhibited shoot elongation. Microshoots were rooted onWPM supplemented with a low auxin concentration (IBA or NAA 0.2-0.5 mg I -1). High rooting percentages were obtained. Shoot proliferation of ash was stimulated on MS andDKW medium supplemented withBAP orBPA (2.0-5.0 mg I -1) andIBA (0.1 mg I -1). Root formation was promoted onWPM containing a low auxin concentration. Rooted plantlets were transplanted into soil and after hardening off the micropropagated trees were planted in the field. The planted trees grew normally without showing signs of abnormality.

Red-light-induced (via phytochrome) germination decreased with increasing numbers of turions per germination flask (overcrowding). Three hypotheses concerning the mechanism of this germination inhibition were tested, related to abscisic acid, ethylene, and oxygen deficiency: (i) Although abscisic acid is a powerful inhibitor of turion germination it had to be excluded as a cause, because abscisic acid was not secreted from turions into the nutrient solution, (ii) Ethylene (ethrel) strongly inhibited growth of newly formed sprouts, but germination response itself was not inhibited, (iii) Germination inhibition did not appear if short light pulses were substituted by continuous irradiation. It reappeared in the presence of the photosynthesis inhibitor 3-(3, 4-dichlorophenyl)-l, 1-dimethylurea, but it was not observed in aerated nutrient solutions, or when Petri dishes instead of Erlenmeyer flasks were used. Decreased oxygen concentrations in the nutrient solution were produced by turion respiration. Consequently, anaerobiosis within the nutrient solution caused by turion respiration was the reason for germination inhibition by overcrowding.

Two classes of phosphonopeptides, those containing P-terminal 9-aminofluoren-9-ylphos-phonic acid and those of dialkyl 9-aminofluoren-9-ylphosphine oxides, influence plant growth according to different mechanisms. The effect of these compounds on the growth of several bacterial species, including the photosynthetic bacteriumRhodospirillum rubrum, as well as on the activity of photosystems 1 and 2 in isolatedPisum sativum andSpirodela oligorrhiza chloroplasts was studied. The peptides of free, unblocked 9-aminofluoren-9-ylphosphonic acid acted in a morphactin-like manner, whereas those of dialkyl 9-aminofluoren-9-ylphosphine oxides influenced photosynthesis indirectly.

Life span of the second leaf of wheat(Triticum aestivum L., cv. Grana) plants was studied from day 8 to day 50 of plant age in a variant with nitrogen (+N) and in a variant in which plant senescence was induced by the omission of nitrogen from the nutrient solution (-N). Seed protein was the sole source of nitrogen for these plants. Specific leaf mass (SLM) in the -N variant, and specific leaf area (SLA), the mass of fresh leaf, soluble protein content and total nitrogen content in the +N variant peaked by day 22 of plant age (that is by day 19 of leaf age). Dry matter content, leaf length and leaf area, and SLM in the +N variant peaked by day 29 of plant age (that is by day 26 of leaf age). The ontogeny of the second leaf in the variant with enhanced senescence was shorter by at least 14 days. Plants from this variant showed typical symptoms of N deficiency, that is yellowing of leaves, tip burn, and lack of tillering. However, the growth and biochemical characters studied did not indicate an earlier onset of the senescence of the second leaf of -N plants. Both +N and -N variants reached their peaks (with the exception of an earlier peak by day 12 in case of total nitrogen content in the -N variant) on the same day of leaf age. Thus the first part of the leaf life span from leaf growth initiation to full expansion was of the same length in both the control and N-def icient plants. The stage of the proper senescence of the second leaf of -N plants was very short; the leaf completely died away within 7 days after senescence onset.

Various regimes of predominantly chloride and sulphate salinity reduced chlorophyll (Chl) (a +b) content and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) in two cultivars ofCicer arietinum L. However, the rate of respiration (Rd) was stimulated up to 6 dS m^-1 of salinity and thereafter it declined with increase in salinity levels. Chloride salinity was more detrimental than the sulphate one as far as Chl (a +b) and Pn were concerned, but R_D was reduced more under sulphate salinity in cv. H-75-35 especially in 110 d-old plants. The cultivar L-144 was relatively more salt sensitive than the cv. H-75-35.

Bromegrass cell suspension cultures, varying in frost hardiness, were immersed ìn distilled water and electrical conductivity of the bathing solutions was measured at various intervals after immersion. It was found that tissue frost-hardened by maintenance at 2‡C leaked more electrolytes than the relatively frost-sensitive tissue grown at 20‡C, but that tissue frost-hardened by abscisic add treatment displayed decreased leakage, despite comparable levels of frost-hardiness having been achieved. It is concluded, in contrast with the conclusion of a previous report, that changes in membrane permeability to electrolytes may not be directly related to the capacity of cells to tolerate freezing stress.

Cytokinins in addition to nitrate induce nitrate reductase activity (NRA) in some plants. Effects of cytokinins onNRA was investigated in stem pith parenchyma of kale, intact wheat and barley seedlings and isolated cucumber cotyledons.
The most profound effect onNRA was found in barley and wheat seedlings.NRA in seedlings sprayed with 100 μM 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) for three subsequent days was increased in leaves and decreased in roots. These changes were further enhanced in seedlings grown in nutrient solution lacking nitrate:NRA in wheat and barley leaves was increased by 57% and 202%, respectively, in plants supplied with nitrate theNRA increase was not significant: in wheat and barley leaves by 22% and 9%, respectively.
Similar effect of BAP and kinetin was found in kale stem parenchyma and cucumber cotyledons. The cytokinin kinetin or BAP alone increasedNRA about twice in kale and three times in cucumber. Addition of nitrate to the medium enhanced the effect of kinetin in kale discs, but the two effects were not additive. Additive effect of nitrate and BAP onNRA was found in cucumber cotyledons in light.
In general NRA was more affected by cytokinins in intact seedlings of wheat and barley as compared to explanted tissue of kale and cucumber, and lack of nitrogen made their effect more expressive.

NaCl (0 to 274 mM) was added to the culture media of normal and habituated (auxin and cytokinin independent) sugarbeet calli and its effect on growth (estimated by the increase of dry and organic matters), water content and osmotic potential was tested. Growth of normal callus was stimulated by 68 mM NaCl after a lag period of two weeks. This callus tolerated up to 137 mM NaCl without growth reduction and maintained its hydric status by readjustment of its osmotic potential in 24 h. NaCl quantities under 34 mM stimulated growth of the habituated callus from the 3rd day on; higher NaCl concentrations (68 to 274 mM) inhibited growth or were lethal. NaCl sensitivity of this habituated callus was not due to its inability to adjust its osmotic potential: this adjustment occurred from the 4th h of culture whatever the media. From the 3rd day on, however, this callus presented a water deficit which depended on NaCl concentration. It is suggested that the lowering of osmotic potential corresponds to an important water loss in relation to changes in membrane permeability. This study finally shows that mechanisms of salt tolerance may have developed at the cellular level. Lower growth and lower salt tolerance of the habituated callus need further investigation in relation to cell structure and hormone autonomy.

α-Glucan phosphorylase was extracted fromDioscorea rotundata tubers and purified 55 fold with specific activity of 360 nmol min^-1 mg^-1 protein and a yield of 41.5 %. By electrophoresis of purified enzyme on polyacrylamide gel a single band of phosphorylase activity appeared. The enzyme showed normal Michaelis-Menten kinetics and was activated by AMP. ATP, ADP, ADP-glucose, calcium and magnesium inhibited the enzyme. It is active in the presence and absence of primer. No effects were observed on the addition of glycolytic intermediates or amino acids. Using gel filtration molecular mass of the enzyme determined is 188 000 and the extract seems to contain one form. Properties of the enzyme indicate that phosphorylase from white yam tuber functions primarily as a starch degrading enzyme. The possible role of the enzyme during yam tuber storage is dicussed.

The changes in the content of free and esterified phenolic acids extracted with methanol and the phenolic acids nonextractable with this solvent were studied during a long term cultivation (4 subcultures, 27 weeks total) of alfalfa callus in darkness and light. The total content of phenolic acids in the callus grown in darkness was lower as compared to their content in callus cultivated under 10/14 h light/darkness regime. It was decreasing during cultivation differently in the two treatments being in light-grown callus dependent on the length of cultivation and decreasing by each subcultivation in darkness. The portion of benzoic acid derivatives related to the total phenolic acids changed with the age of the culture reaching 90 % after the fourth subcultivation in darkness while only 45 % in light. Considerable decrease of the content of esterified form of phenolic acids accompanied by relatively stable content of free and firmly bound phenolic acids caused significant decrease of esters as related to total phenolic acids (from 87 % to 25 %).