skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Effect of altered intraraceme competition on carbon-14-labeled assimilate and abscisic acid in soybean

Journal Article · · Crop Sci.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6799108

Abscission probability varies among floral positions within soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) racemes. Field grown soybean plants were used to determine the distribution of translocated /sup 14/C-labeled photosynthate and abscisic acid (ABA) among reproductive structures differing for abscission probability. The effect of proximal pods on the translocation of /sup 14/C-labeled photosynthate to and ABA concentration in distal pods (floral positions 3 and above) was also evaluated. Treatments consisted of removing or not removing the two proximal pods (floral positions 1 and 2) from the major racemes at nodes 8 and 10 in 1982 and 8, 10, and 12 in 1983. Six days after treatment in 1982 and 12 days after treatment in 1983. /sup 14/C-translocation from the leaf at the node of interest was determined after exposure to /sup 14/CO/sub 2/. On the same day, distal pods were collected for determination of ABA by gas chromatography. For untreated plants, proximal and distal pods accounted for 50 and 7% of the translocated /sup 14/C, respectively. Proximal pod removal had no effect on /sup 14/C retained by the source leaf (72%) or the concentration of ABA in seeds. Concentration of ABA in pod wall of distal pods was increased by proximal pod removal in only one instance. Amount of /sup 14/C translocated to distal pods and distal pod specific activity were not altered by proximal pod removal in 1982 but were increased in 1983. The different treatment effect between years may indicate that distal pods undergo a period of adjustment after proximal pod removal. An understanding of processes that occur during the adjustment period may be necessary before the mechanism of soybean reproductive abscission is known.

OSTI ID:
6799108
Journal Information:
Crop Sci.; (United States), Vol. 26:6
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English