Young seedlings ofZea mays L. andCucurbita pepo L. were grown in water culture with a layer of oil (linum or olive oil) or liquid paraffin. The seedlings transport oil and parafin into the top and in the young root.Cucurbita seedlings proved to be very sensitive and died within few days.Zea proved to be resistant. InZea this transport of oil was found to be related to the age of the seedlings and the zone of the root in contact with oil. The oil was localised in the cell walls of different tissues of root and top, in the intercellular spaces of cortex and pith and in the xylem vessels.

Flowering in the short-day speciesChenopodium rubrum L. was stimulated by treatment with abscisic acid (ABA) in concentrations from 1×10^-3M to 1×10^-7M only in plants partly induced by two dark periods. We assume that ABA weakens the inhibitory effect of continuous light (similarly as do some other substancese.g nucleic acid inhibitors) and thus enables the expression of the evoked floral state. ABA was ineffective in promoting flowering in photoperiodically non-induced plants.

Five different isolates of beet yellows virus were maintained without any changes in their properties onTetragonia expansaMurr. syn.T. tetragonoidesPall. for a long period of time. According to their characteristics and different properties especially in a diploid inbred line of sugar beet the isolates are considered to be strains of BYV and are classified into three groups: group of mild strains (the mild masked and mild strains), normal strains (the common strain) and necrotic strains (the severe necrotic and necrotic strains). The necrotic strains of BYV were relatively easily transmissible manually to sugar beet plants and other indicator species. The common strain can be transmitted to sugar beet,Chenopodium quinoaWilld. but not toC. capitatumL. Asch. Mild strains are transmissible with difficulty andC. quinoa is the only species which develops a larger number of local lesions after inoculation. In contrast to the mild masked and common strains it is manually transmissible toC. capitatum. The mild masked strain can not be transmitted to sugar beet.Nicotiana quadrivalvisPursh. is not susceptible to mechanical inoculation with BYV. Aphid transmission withMyzus persicae (Sulz.) was positive in experiments with necrotic strains only. Mechanical transmission of BYV was successful also toC. foliosum(Moench) Asch.,C. murale L. andClaytonia perfoliataDonn. The last two species were susceptible to inoculation by aphids as well. Attempts to transmit the virus manually toT. expansaMurr. andC. giganteumDonn. failed.

Seedlings can be used to predict field resistance, if any, of wheat varieties and experimental lines to wheat powdery mildew fungus,Erysiphe graminis f. sp.tritici. First leaves of 8-day-old seedlings of a field-resistant wheat showed a greater frequency of primary infections in subsidiary cells of stomata than those in a susceptible wheat. This method of predicting field resistance of experimental lines from seedling studies should prove time-saving because crosses involving field-resistant experimental lines can be made in the same generation.

Barley seeds were treated with ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) for 3 h at 25° C, washed with tap water for 24 h at 25° C, redried at 40° C to different moisture contents below 15% and stored at 25° C in desiccators or in sealed plastic bags. The criteria used for expressing the effect of storage were the M₁ seedling height and the frequency of chromosomal aberrations. With 14.9% seed moisture a strong increase of biological injury occurred in the course of a 2-week storage, while storage of seeds having an initial moisture content of 11.7% led to a significant increase of injury only after 6 weeks. Superdry EMS-treated seeds with 5% or less moisture can be stored at 25° C without any changes in the biological effects. A method is recommended to avoid the EMS-storage effects.

A procedure was developed for satisfactory freeze-sectioning of root tips. The use of Ca formol-fixed material kept and frozen in Holt's syrup is recommended. The existence and different localization of 2 fractions of non-specific esterase was verified in root tips ofVicia faba. The same results were revealed in fixed and unfixed material. The dynamics ofin situ reaction was followed with respect to optimal incubation time. The results with substrates of different chain length support the existence of 2 fraction of the studied enzyme, none of which, concerning substrate specificity, is a lipase. It follows from the present studies inVicia faba and other species (Cucurbita pepo, Lupinus albus, Pisum sativum Zea mays), that non-specific esterase localization is not directly given by histogenesis.

A simultaneous azocoupling reaction used for in situ localization of non-specific esterase may be applied even for quantitative in vitro measurements. The developed standard procedure was verified with regard to substrate concentration, inhibitory effect of diazonium salt, incubation time, stability of resulting dye, relation between the amount of dye and the amount of material. On HW medium, non-specific esterase activity increases considerably both in phloem and xylem explants from Daucus carota L. taproot. The increase of enzyme is higher and appears earlier than the increase of fresh weight and dry matter, especially in the explants of phloem.

Some methods were studied which use hot 10% NaCl solution for the extraction of both RNA and DNA from pollen. The raw salt extracts were precipitated with perchloric acid, trichloroacetic acid or ethanol and purified according to the described methods. The nucleic acid hydrolysates were obtained in several ways. In all the samples spectra in the UV-region were measured and the nucleic acid contents were determined according to the absorbance at 260 nm. In order to ascertain the extent of contaminants, the contents of phosphorus, saccharides and proteins were determined. It was found that by the methods studied it is possible to remove some impurities from extracts, but that the extractions of nucleic acids from pollen are not quite quantitative. A part of nucleic acids remained unextracted after the salt extraction in pollen, but it was possible to obtain it only by an additional extraction with 1 N perchloric acid at 75°C.

Five strains of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) were distinguished in the isolates of viruses which attack cucumber in Czechoslovakia (Havránek 1970). The strains A, B, C, D, and E of CMV were defined according to different syndromes onNicotiana tabacum L.,N. glutinosa L.,Phaseolus vulgaris L. andChenopodium polyspermum L. The Czechoslovak strains, in comparison with American ones, did not cause systemic disease inCucumis anguria L. orCucurbita moschataDuch., but strains D and E of CMV suppressed the tolerance of American cucumber cultivar Wisconsin SMR 18. The propertiesin vitro of isolated CMV strains correspond to the description of CMV, but we did not succeed in establishing their antigenic behaviour. The relation of the Czechoslovak CMV strains to those described in publications is discussed.

When cytokinin 6-(γ,γ-dimethylallylamino)-purine-8-¹⁴C was injected into the side root of a one-year-old apple graft, variety Cox's Orange Pippin, it was mainly transported acropetally, but a certain part of the radioactivity was also transported basipetally into the root below the place of injection. 6 days after application of the labelled cytokinin most of the radioactivity was detected in the xylem, 20-30 cm above the place of application. An appreciable quantity of radioactivity was transported toward the apical part of the plant as far as 100 cm from the point of application. Special analysis showed that 6 days after exposition about half of the remaining radioactivity was present in 6-(γ,γ-dimethylallylamino)-purine-8-C¹⁴ and the rest went to the other metabolites. The cytokinin was transported acropetally mainly in the transpiration stream.

Actual heterogeneity of indicators of water balance was studied on tissue segments from leaves ofBrassica oleracea L. v.acephala andNicotiana tabacum L. under controlled conditions. Maximal values of transpiration rate, water absorption rate, water transport rate and low values of WSD at the same time were observed at an initial WSD of 0% in segments from middle leaves and at an initial WSD of 20% mostly in segments from upper leaves. Although the properties of leaf tissue itself were probably the basic factors determining the actual heterogeneity of indicators of water balance, without connection with all other factors (e. g. various microclimates, supply of water) heterogeneity did not appear to a full degree.

In rooting poplar shoot cuttings of identical morphogenetic characteristics at the same time, the author succeeded to evoke differences in the radial arrangement of the vascular system by different environment influences. More favourable rooting conditions in the green-house, when comparing with the less favourable field conditions, caused root formation with a higher number of alternating xylem and phloem poles. The representants observed (I 214,Populus deltoides var.monilifera, P. pyramidalis) did not react in the same way on the different onvironment. The hybrid I 214 was the most sensible.
It was also possible to induce differences by indoleacetic acid (IAA) exogenous application. Not only the number of the roots formed increased in a highly significant manner in the cuttings influenced by IAA, but also the number of poles in the radial vascular bundles of the induced roots was higher in a highly significant way.
From the results given above it can be deduced that external conditions affecting activation of dormant root primordia in poplars influence also the pattern of vascular tissue differentiation in formed roots.

When cytokinin 6-(γ,γ-dimethylallylamino)-purine-8-¹⁴C was injected into the side root of a one-year-old apple graft, variety Cox's Orange Pippin, it was mainly transported acropetally, but a certain part of the radioactivity was also transported basipetally into the root below the place of injection. 6 days after application of the labelled cytokinin most of the radioactivity was detected in the xylem, 20-30 cm above the place of application. An appreciable quantity of radioactivity was transported toward the apical part of the plant as far as 100 cm from the point of application. Special analysis showed that 6 days after exposition about half of the remaining radioactivity was present in 6-(γ,γ-dimethylallylamino)-purine-8-C¹⁴ and the rest went to the other metabolites. The cytokinin was transported acropetally mainly in the transpiration stream.

The formation of the protein complex during barley grain maturation is characterized by unequal synthesis of different protein fractions. In ten day-old grain the dominating protein is glutelin, followed by albumin and globulin. The content of prolamin is at this stage negligible. Particularly after the eighteenth day of maturation intensive synthesis of prolamins begins, which continues during the entire maturing period in almost the same ratio as total N accumulation in the grain. From the twenty-fourth day the amount of prolamins exceeds that of glutelins, and at full maturity 50% of the proteins are prolamins. The glutelin content increases absolutely, but relatively it decreases from 41 to 26%.
The amino acid composition of flour from total grain as well as the amino acid composition of the individual proteins is significantly changed during maturation. Generally the changes are manifested in an increasing content of Glu and Pro and a decreasing content of Asp, Ala and Lys. These changes seem to occur as a result of an increasing representation of prolamin, which is characterized by large content of Glu and Pro and low content of Asp, Ala and Lys compared with other protein fractions.

Red clover mottle virus isolated in Czechoslovakia was studied in relation to its reaction to varying temperature on primary French bean leaves (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) on which it forms local necrotic lesions. The plants were kept 24 or 48 h before, or 24 or 48 h after inoculation at the temperatures 23, 25, 27, 30, 33 and 36° C. After such exposures the French beans were kept at a constant temperature of 25° C. The lesions were counted at various intervals. In the experiment the optimal temperature for the maximum number of lesions seems to be 36 °C 48 h before inoculation. The temperature above 25° C applied 24 h after inoculation seems to have a decreasing effect upon the number of lesions formed by RCMV on primary leaves of French beans and the lesions appeared several hours later, especially at 30, 33 and 36° C. The temperatures 27, 30 and 33° C applied 48 h after inoculation have a further decreasing effect on the number of lesions. The temperature of 36° C applied 48 h after inoculation has an inactivating effect upon RCMV inoculated on French bean leaves and no lesions appeared 5 days after inoculation.

Callus tissues were derived from the stem of healthy tomato plants (Lycopersicum esculentumMill. ev. Průhonické) and of plants infected with potato witches' broom-a disease caused by mycoplasma. Callus cultures were established on modified fully synthetic media described byMorel (1948) and byMurashige andSkoog (1962). Callus cultures obtained from diseased plants were grown and subcultured on both media, growth in primary isolates from healthy plants took place on the Murashige and Skoog medium only. Growth of callus tissue derived from diseased plants was more vigorous even after several subcultivations in comparison with callus tissues isolated from healthy plants. Variations in the morphology in these callus cultures were not noted. Callus cells of diseased plants varied in size; they were about 50% larger than those from healthy ones. Implantation of primary and subcultivated callus tissues into tomato stems of healthy plants did not show any symptoms of infection on test plants.

The effect of abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellin A₄₊₇ and benzyladenine on germination of apple embryos which had been stratified for different periods of time was investigated.
The growth stimulators accelerated the germination of non-stratified embryos or those stratified for a short time. After a longer period of stratification, the effect of growth stimulators was visible only when germination of the embryos was artificially inhibited by simultaneous application of synthetic ABA.
The sensitivity of stratified apple embryos to the exogenous ABA diminished with the number of hours elapsed between the imbibiting by the embryos of the water or gibberellin and the application of the ABA.
This was similar to the change in the sensitivity of apple embryos during stratification due to the increasing concentrations of ABA.

The effect of the herbicides MCPA and simazine on some physiological processes in bindweed was studied. An enhanced respiration rate in roots was demonstrated when MCPA was added to the nutrient solution, and when the plants were later transferred to a solution without any herbicide. When overground parts of plants were treated with the herbicide their respiration rate was found to proceed at a higher rate than in controls. the opposite situation being found to prevail in roots. In this experimental variant the content of glycides and of nitrogen in the overground parts was found to be reduced. It seems probable that the glycides were consumed due to the more intensive respiration caused by the presence of MCPA.
In experiments with simazine a lower respiration rate as compared with the controls was demonstrated in the majority of cases, independent of the means of application of the herbicide. When simazine was applied to roots and the plants were transferred to a solution without the herbicide, the overground parts were found to contain less glycides than the controls. In roots the opposite was true; after 7 days of the experiment no difference between the treated and untreated plants was observed. The nitrogen content was rather variable in this experiment. The reduced respiration rate after simazine treatment may be explained by a lack of respiration substrates resulting from an impairment of photosynthetic assimilation.

The effect of GA₃ on the initiation and the development of epiphyllous buds inBryophyllum tubiflorum exposed to different photoperiods was studied. It was observed that although the bud primordia were initiated under both photoperiods, they developed as epiphyllous buds only under theLD condition. GA₃ did not affect the magnitude of bud development underSD and inhibited it under theLD condition.

For three consecutive years the content of natural stimulators and inhibitors was observed in leaves and shoots of peach trees. Research was directed to the question of development of flower buds.
The substances under study were isolated from the acidic fraction of ether extracts by means of paper chromatography and their concentration was determined by biological test. The activities of substances which either stimulate or inhibit the growth of oat coleoptiles, were added up. The curve expressing the content of stimulators in shoots in relation to the fresh weight showed its maximum in the period of full growth of shoots (15 June-15 July according to the fluctuating vegetative conditions) and it showed a decreasing tendency at the end of the season. The decline of the curve showing the content of inhibitors is of similar direction but less steep. The trend of substances under study is the same in leaves as in shoots, but their quantity is lower. Stimulation and inhibition effects in individual sampling intervals were added up to make a common curve which seems to express the combined action of stimulators and inhibitors in the plant, which determines its growth pattern.

We have found in a number of plants (lentil, lupine, bean, barley, oats, rye, wheat, cucumber, melon, flax, sunflower and rape) that varying amounts of ethanol are formed under natural anaerobiosis and, that in later growth periods these plants continue to react to anaerobiosis by formation of ethanol. When the testa has opened in germinating plants or, when plants are transferred from the anaerobic atmosphere to air, ethanol disappears.
Plants contain alcohol dehydrogenases, the activity of which depends on the alcohol concentration in their tissue; the maximum concentration is reached during natural anaerobiosis, rising in the course of further growth when the plants are kept in a nitrogen atmosphere.
Alcohol dehydrogenases of the plants studied are localised in the soluble cell fraction notsedimenting at 120 000 g, their pH optimum is in the weakly alkaline region and their Michaelis constants are equal in order of magnitude (10^-5m). They are all inhibited in the same way by Zn²⁺, Cu²⁺, Hg²⁺, B₄O₇^2- ions, p-chloromercuric benzoate, iodoacetate, EDTA and phenantroline, which may be considered as evidence of the presence of -SH groups. The specific activity of alcohol dehydrogenase preparations is higher in plants grown in light than in plants grown in the dark.
The specific activity of plant alcohol dehydrogenases can be increased by precipitation with ammonium sulphate by at most one order of magnitude, while all the activity is lost by this purification process in the case of cereals.
The following isoenzyme composition of ADH was found by means of electrophoresis on polyacrylamide: the enzyme from poas and sunflower, for example, is composed of three, that from wheat and oats six, the enzyme from maize and barley of five isoenzymes.

The present report is focused on the study of participation of exogenous DNA in the process of postirradiation reparation of meristematic cells ofVicia faba primary roots. It is aimed at comparison of the positive reparative effect of isologous DNA with postirradiation action of heterologous DNA in its native, thermally denatured and DNAase-degraded forms, or DNA degraded by ultrasound, and with the effect of other biologically important macromolecules (RNA, histone, heparin, and dextran sulphate). For this purpose, the roots ofVicia faba irradiated by 150 r exposure were cultivated in solutions containing the above substances for an appropriate time interval. In squash slides both mitotic activity of the investigated cell population and frequency of postmetaphase chromosomal aberrations induced by radiation were evaluated. It was shown that a stimulation of cell division and reparation of chromosome damages were supported exclusively by isologous DNA. On the contrary, exogenously applied heterologous DNA increased postirradiation frequency of aberrations; maintenance of native structure of applied DNA was an essential condition for the above effect. Other macromolecules investigated on the course of postirradiation reparation ofVicia faba meristematic cells were without effect.

Whole seeds, excised embryos, and excised endosperm ofSantalum album were aseptically cultured with a view to studying seed germination in isolation from the host species, and to establishing callus cultures from both embryo and endosperm for comparative studies et their morphogenesis. Seed germination and seedling formation occurred normally only on modified White's medium supplemented with casein hydrolysate or coconut milk, or with both substances. Neither the excised embryo nor the endosperm grew on any of the culture media tested. However in about 17 per cent seed cultures on White's medium supplemented with 2,4-D, kinetin, and yeast extract, the endosperm degenerated, whereas the embryo callused and subsequently differentiated into innumerable embryoids; eventually the embryoids developed into normal plantlets. Callusing of the endosperm occurred also in seed cultures on four media supplemented variously with 2,4-D, kinetin, and yeast extract. Although the endosperm tissue grew through several passages no organ fornation was observed.

Kind of substrate utilized by the respiration of mustard seedlings (Sinapis alba L.) was determined on the basis of found RQ values of control plants. This led to the study of the effect of 4-phenethylpyridine on relationships between lipase, lipoxidase, glycerolkinase and O₂ consumption: Enzyme activities and O₂ consumption rose from the second to the fifth day. According to these results, 4-phenethylpyridine increases degradation of storage fats in the beginning phase of fat catabolism, bringing about advantageous conditions for their metabolic utilization in plant, like in the case of saccharide metabolism.

The present report is focused on the study of participation of exogenous DNA in the process of postirradiation reparation of meristematic cells ofVicia faba primary roots. It is aimed at comparison of the positive reparative effect of isologous DNA with postirradiation action of heterologous DNA in its native, thermally denatured and DNAase-degraded forms, or DNA degraded by ultrasound, and with the effect of other biologically important macromolecules (RNA, histone, heparin, and dextran sulphate). For this purpose, the roots ofVicia faba irradiated by 150 r exposure were cultivated in solutions containing the above substances for an appropriate time interval. In squash slides both mitotic activity of the investigated cell population and frequency of postmetaphase chromosomal aberrations induced by radiation were evaluated. It was shown that a stimulation of cell division and reparation of chromosome damages were supported exclusively by isologous DNA. On the contrary, exogenously applied heterologous DNA increased postirradiation frequency of aberrations; maintenance of native structure of applied DNA was an essential condition for the above effect. Other macromolecules investigated on the course of postirradiation reparation ofVicia faba meristematic cells were without effect.

Physiological effects of volatile substances released by the overground as well as by the underground organs of higher plants were studied. The activity of the volatile substances was tested both when these substances were allowed to act directly in the air and when they were dissolved in water in the form of solutions. Plants which do not contain essential oils or which are not rich in them as well as those abounding in essential oils and other volatiles were used in the experiments. The physiological activity of the volatile substances was tested on rye seedlings.
The overground as well as underground mature organs of the tested plants were found to release volatile substances causing, when acting directly, in the majority of cases an inhibition of the growth in length and of the formation of dry matter in rye seedlings. A pronounced inhibition of the growth of rye seedlings was brought about especially by the volatile substances of "aromatic" plants such as common dill, wild thyme, yarrow milfoil, garden thyme, marjoram, etc. The volatile substances released by the organs of "non-aromatic" plants like sugar-beet, common sunflower, quackgrass, etc., were found to bring about a significant inhibition of the growth of rye seedlings, too.
The volatile substances released by the plant organs were found to be altogether absorbable in water and physiologically active also in the form of water solutions. With the exception of volatile substances from hemp and quackgrass leaves, which brought about a mild stimulation of the dry matter formation in rye seedlings, inhibitory effects of these solutions were found to prevail in all cases. Most effective were the solutions of the volatiles from some of the "aromatic plants".
An assay for olefines in the atmosphere of the experimental vessels demonstrated that in almost all cases ethylene is being released by the plant organs.

Changes in the variability of quantitative characters (number of fertile stems, length of the stem and of the spike, number of spikelets in the spike, number of seeds in the spike and in the spikelet) in M₂ induced with 0.1 mM, 0.2 mM and 0.3 mM N-nitroso-N-methylurea (MNH) and with 5000r and 10 000 r of X-rays inTriticum monococcum L. var.sofianumKörn. were evaluated. The mean of the populations remained practically unchanged by the mutagens whereas the variability increased considerably with increasing concentration or dose. Changes in the variability were more pronounced in the values for the first stem than in the values for the first three stems. When changes in the population mean were found (with some of the most elevated concentrations and doses), these changes were shown to be mostly due to a repetition of the cultivation, whereas the changes in the variability were mostly due to the action of the mutagens. In all experimental populations, mutations in quantitative characters were successfully induced.

Some biochemical properties ofTrigonella foenum-groecum infected withPeronospora trifoliorum have been investigated. Qualitative changes were observed in lipids, coumarins, amino acids and indole compounds only. A quantitative study of the phosphate content was also carried out. Neutral lipids did not show any significant changes. In addition to the fourteen phospholipid bands, the infected leaves contained a new band corresponding in R_f to phosphatidic acid or polyglycerophosphate. Seven coumarins were present in both the extracts. In addition 3-hydroxy coumarin, 5-hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin and 7-hydroxy-4-methyl-coumarin were detected in infected leaves. Higher levels of indole acetic acid and three of its derivatives were observed due to infection. Infection altered the free amino acid content. Tryptophan appeared and the total phosphate content increased. Increase in phenols and indoles suggest a higher respiratory rate whereas a higher content of inorganic phosphate suggests uncoupling of phosphorylation from respiration.

Determination of bark contraction due to tapping made simultaneously at different positions on the trunk ofHevea trees (young PR 107, S/2 ↓) provided information about the flow area and the speed of contration spreading.
The relation between truck contraction at the given distance from the cut and the amount of latex tapped was experessed in mathematical terms. A quantitative relation was also established between the yields of latex and the linear dimension of flow areas in longitudinal direction below the middle of tapping cut.
From the contraction curves it is deduced that the lateral flow of latex becomes relatively more important with increasing yields.

The authors succeeded in demonstrating accumulation of tyrosine and p-coumaric acid in three day-old roots of maize (Zea mays L.) fed with L-phenylalanine and cinnamic acid. Phenylpyruvic acid applied under the same conditions gave rise to phenylalanine, indicating the presence of the corresponding transferase activity. Even simultaneous application of inhibitors of transaminase activity-hydroxylamine and isonicotinic acid hydrazide-did not result in the formation of p-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid.