Carbon dioxide makes heat therapy work
Scientists can now propagate healthy blueberry and raspberry plants from virus-infected stock by treating it with heat and carbon dioxide. Plants are grown at 100/sup 0/F, which makes them develop faster than the virus can spread. Then cuttings are taken of the new growth - less than an inch long - and grown into full-sized, virus-free plants. But in this race to outdistance the virus, some plant species are not able to take the heat. Some even die. Chemical reactions double for every 14/sup 0/F rise in temperature. So, if you try to grow a plant at 100/sup 0/F that was originally growing at 86/sup 0/F, it will double its respiration rate. Adding carbon dioxide increases the rate of photosynthesis in plants, which increases the plant's food reserves. What carbon dioxide does to allow some plants to grow at temperatures at which they would otherwise not survive and it allows other plants to grow for longer periods at 100/sup 0/F. One problem with the process, says Converse, is that the longer plants are exposed to heat the greater the mutation rate. So, resulting clones should be closely examined for trueness to horticultural type.
- OSTI ID:
- 6692799
- Journal Information:
- Agric. Res.; (United States), Vol. 35:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
BLUEBERRIES
PLANT GROWTH
CARBON DIOXIDE
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BERRIES
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
VIRUSES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
FOOD
FRUITS
GROWTH
MICROORGANISMS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARASITES
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
SYNTHESIS
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology