New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Effects of growing environments, planting date, and stem treatments
on sandersonia tuber weight and secondary tuber development
G. E. CLARK
New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food
Research Limited
Pukekohe Research Centre
Cronin Road, RD 1
Pukekohe, New Zealand
G. K. BURGE
New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food
Research Limited
Levin Research Centre
Private Bag 4005
Levin, New Zealand
Abstract Sandersonia (
Sandersonia aurantiaca Hook)
tuber growth and secondary tuber development were assessed in two growing
environments (a greenhouse and outdoors), at three planting dates (1 October, 1
December, and 1 February) and with six stem pruning treatments. Tubers of c. 1
g were used. The pruning treatments consisted of cutting the stem just above
the second flower when 50% of the stems had the second flower open, or 2, 4, 6,
and 8 weeks later. In another experiment the effect of stem tipping, stem
pruning, flower removal, and an auxin transport inhibitor (2,3,5-triiodobenzoic
acid (TIBA)) applied 3 weeks after the second flower opened were assessed.
Tuber growth and secondary tuber development were affected by the date of
planting, with both tuber weight and incidence of secondary tubers declining
significantly in the later planting dates. Environmental factors including
temperature, radiation, and day length may have influenced the rate and type of
tuber growth. Stem pruning, removal of the growing tip plus flowers, or
applying TIBA reduced secondary tuber numbers and had little effect on tuber
size. This study suggests that it is possible to reduce the presence of
undesirable secondary tubers by manipulating the growing environment or by
developing appropriate cultural practices.
Keywords sandersonia; Sandersonia aurantiaca; tuber;
planting date; cutting; auxin
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 1997, Vol. 25:
67-72
0114-0671/97/2501-0067 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1997
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (410K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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