CHILLING ENHANCEMENT OF ROOT REGENERATION IN APPLE CAN OCCUR WITHOUT BUDBREAK OR GROWTH OF ROOT SUCKERS

Abstract

After receiving 0, 600, 1200, or 1800 hr. of chilling at 5C, one-year-old Malus domestica Borkh. seedlings were given 10 sec. root dips either 10,000 ppm K-IBA solution or water control. Following chilling and IBA treatments, 20 seedlings of each combination were placed in forcing conditions of 20 ± 2C root temperatures and either 20 or 5 ± 1C shoot temperatures. Five seedlings of each treatment were harvested after 0, 7, 14, and 21 days of forcing. Five C prohibited budbreak and bark slipage for up to 21 days. Under 20C, budbreak, shoot elongation and root growth all occurred earlier, faster, and reached a higher level with increased chilling. Twenty C root and 5C shoot temperatures during forcing resulted in large increases in the growth of adventitious shoots on lateral roots, but had little effect on the formation of adventitious shoots on the tap root. K-IBA prohibited development of adventitious shoots on roots, reduced shoot elongation more so than budbreak, and increased root regeneration across chilling hours. K-IBA inhibition of adventitious shoots did not alter the overall pattern of root regeneration enhancement by chilling.