Lesson Structure: Botany II BSC204

There are 10 lessons:

1 Flower physiology

• Introduction
• The flowering response
• Genes control flowering
• Physiological age
• Minimum leaf number
• Photoperiodism
• Terminology

2  Phytochrome

• Light sensing systems
• Blue light responses
• Red light responses
• Other light responses
• Phytochrome
• Photoreceptor forms: Pr, Pfr
• How molelcules changeRelevance to commercial horticulture
• Controlling light
• Terminology

3  Photoperiodism

• Light
• Measuring light
• What wavelengths do plants need
• Typical photoperiod responses
• Photoperiodic responses in seasonal flowering plants
• Photoperiodic classification of plants: short day plants, long day plants, day neutral plants
• Detection of photoperiod
• Critical photoperiod and flowering
• Research facts
• Other photoperiodic effects
• Terminology

4  Control of flower bud initiation and development

• Stages in flower bud growth
• What can affect flower bud initiation
• Differentiation
• Dvelopment
• Anthesis
• Effect of temperature on growth and flowering
• VernalisationThermoperiodism
• Research reports or reviews of specific plants
• Terminology

5  Dormancy

• Dormancy in plants
• Abscisic acid and dormancy
• Breaking dormancy
• Dormancy in seeds
• Factors affecting seed dormancy
• Breaking seed dormancy
• Terminology

6  Effects of plant associations and competition

• Introduction
• Competition
• Parasitism
• Coevolution
• Mutualism
• Plant herbivore and pathogen interactions
• Crop spacing and crop yeilds
• Crop canopy and plant density
• Impact of weeds
• Protected environments
• Greenhouses
• Shadehouses

7  Respiration and post harvest physiology

• Respiration
• Glycolysis
• Aerobic respiration
• Anaerobic respiration
• Bioluminescene and Fluorescence
• Post harvest respiration
• Terminology

8  Post harvest storage, transport, retailing and shelf life

• Effect of growing conditions on post harvest life
• Controlled storage conditions: temperature, atmosphere, humidity
• Normal atmospheric conditions
• Controlled and modified atmospheres
• Effect of oxygen levels Effect of carbon dioxide levels
• Ethylene
• Controlling ethylene levels
• Modified Atmosphere Packaging
• Commodity transport
• Retailing and shelf life

9 Endogenous and synthetic growth regulators

• Nature of plant hormones
• Auxins: IAA, IBA, NAA
• Gibberellins: natural and synthetic
• Cytokinins: over 130 different types
• Abscisic acid
• Ethylene
• Other homones: anti auxins, growth inhibitors, growth retardants, defoliants, growth Stimulators, non standard hormones
• Controlled ripening and degreening
• Waxing

10 Risks involved with plant growth manipulation 

• Commercial risks
• Human health and safety risks
• Plant pathology risks
• Ecological risks
• Genetic modification
• Benefits
• environmental hazards
• Human hazards
• Terminology
• Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Learning Goals: Botany II BSC204

• Investigate the physiology of growth development and flowering.
• Examine the nature of phytochrome and its effect on flowering in the phytochrome reaction.
• Examine the photoperiodic responses of flowering plants to differing dark and light periods.
• Examine the effect of temperature on the onset of flowering and flower development.
• Understand and describe the causes of dormancy in seeds and plants and describe the methods of breaking dormancy.
• Understand plant associations and competition and their effects on quality and marketable yield.
• Explain the process of respiration in plant cells and its effect on post-harvest storage and transportation of crops.
• Describe physiological processes in post-harvest crops in relation to the storage conditions.
• Investigate the effect on plants of endogenous and synthetic growth regulators.
• Understand risk assessments relevant to plant growth manipulation.

Your tutor for this course is: Susan Stephenson BSc in Applied Plant Biology (Botany) Univ. London 1983. City and guilds: Garden Centre Management, Management and Interior Decor (1984) Management qualifications in training with retail store. Diploma in Hort level 2 (RHS General) Distinction. 

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Excerpt From The Course

STAGES OF FLOWER BUD GROWTH

The stages from shoot to flowering can be broken into the following stages.

1. Induction: biochemical changes that cause the vegetative bud to become reproductive
2. Initiation: can be defined as the time that the plant is committed to bud development
3. Differentiation: during this stage the individual parts of the flower form
4. Development: growth of the flower parts
5. Anthesis: the opening of the flowers

As mentioned in Lesson 1 shoots must progress past the juvenile phase into the (adult) vegetative phase and then on to the flowering phase.  The key point here is that seedlings cannot be induced to flower, the plant must have passed on to the adult phase in order to develop flowers.

In order for the plant to be ready for flowering the apical meristem switches from vegetative to reproductive, this is known as induction. At this stage the plant is then susceptible to environmental variables that may induce flowering.  Once the apex has become a flower primordia the process is irreversible. The bud development cannot be reversed, however if conditions are unsuitable the bud may abort and the auxiliary buds will resume vegetative growth.

Examples of what can affect Flower Bud Initiation

Scientists have found many different things can affect the formation of flower buds, to a greater or lesser degree. Many of these factors may affect some types of plants and not others. Many of these factors interact with each other, sometimes in a positive way, and sometimes in a negative way. The following are a range of examples that can play a part in the stimulation of flower initiation:

• Exposing apples to ammonium ions can cause more axillary buds to form on the main stem. (Duration of exposure appears unimportant with 1 day giving the same result as many weeks.
• Dormant tulip bulbs took less days from planting to flowering when exposed to higher than normal levels of ethylene, and stored for a period at higher temperatures (20 degrees C)
• The temperature during flower bud initiation affects the development of orchid buds into a flower.
• The time for flower initiation in Freesias is affected by the average of soil and air temperatures. If soil and/or air temperature is increased, flowering is delayed. At 21 degrees C, the plant can remain vegetative.
• Water levels during the day can affect flower initiation in tropical Carambola trees (Averrhoa carambola) by as much as 10%.
• Flower initiation in Azaleas is an interaction between temperature and light. At 15 degrees celsius, Azaleas are day neutral, but at 20 degrees Celsius they are short day plants.
• Annuals, Biennials & Perennials all appear to have the same mechanisms for flower initiation. Once the plant reaches maturity, vegetative meristem tissue is converted to floral tissue capable of producing flowers.

Differentiation requires N (nitrogen) and CHO from photosynthesis; it is also sensitive to temperature and shade effects.

Development

Development of the flower buds at a successful rate and quality can be affected by the following:

• Water availability
• Temperature changes
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Defoliation
• Injury
• And inadequate chilling during dormancy for some plants

Anthesis

Conditions affecting the duration of anthesis have direct implication to cut flower harvesting and post harvest storage.  Additionally the stage of development or anthesis at which flowers are harvested can have impact upon their storage life.  Generally flowers harvested later in to their development will have a shorter shelf life.  The best stage to harvest flowers will depend upon many factors including the species, cultivar, and the market requirements.  It is of course possible to harvest flowers before anthesis due to the existence of special techniques which allow.