1. Plant Reproductive Physiology

2. Flowering
Photoperiodism
Temperature
Nutrition

3. Fruiting Pollination Development after fertilization
Maturity, ripening and senescens

4. Plant Growth Stages Juvenile stage Transitional stage Maturity stage
Senescence stage

5. Juvenile stage Phase length varies: Morphologies:
Vegetative growth and unable to flower even if plant grows an environment for flowering
a physiological state of plant before flower differentiation
Flowering cannot be induced
plants often differ in appearance from the adult.
Phase length varies:
annual – shorter eg. Weed will be at juvenile stage 4-5 d after germinated
perennial – longer at juvenile stage
eg. in certain shrubs up to 40years
Morphologies:
Simple primary leaf to trifoliate leaves
beans: adult – compound leaf; juvenile – simple leaf
leaves lobe
rapid growth
Usually, the basal part of tree is juvenility and the top is mature or adult in physiology.

6. Methods to shorten juvenility
Long-day treatment - shorten the juvenility form 5～10 year to 1 year of birch
Grafting- speed up flowering of fruit crops in 2-3 year.
GAs treatments- can induce flowering in juvenility of ivy, cypress and fir.

7. Transitional stage Have both juvenile and mature tissue
May revert back to juvenile if environmental conditions are right.
Involves the transition of a vegetative meristem, producing leaves and stems, into a floral meristem, producing flowers.

8. Flower Initiation and Development
a. Irreversible change in which to bud (meristem) changes from growing vegetative tissue to reproductive tissue
b. Improper conditions can cause flower buds to abort
1. High temp
2. Moisture stress
c. Flowers can be induced naturally or through PGR (plant growth regulators)

9. Maturity or reproductive stage
Stage where plants are ready to flower.
Flowering - ultimate expression of mature state
Changes influence by environment
Environment serve as expression changes regulator
Changes in physiology and morphology
Transformation of primodium of stem, leaf or vegetative part to primodium reproductive organ
One way transformation
Many plants produce flowers independent of environmental conditions

10. Temperature – Vernalization Photoperiodism Light intensity
Factors influence transformation of the juvenile into the mature:
Temperature – Vernalization
Photoperiodism
Light intensity
Drought stress
Low fertility levels (especially N)

11. Senescens
The final stage in a plant’s life cycle a. May occur naturally or accelerated by environmental conditions including pathogenic attack b. Cell and tissues deteriorate c. Partial senescence is when plant organs age and eventually die d. Complete senescence is when the whole plant dies. Monocarpic plant – flowering and fruiting once Polycarpic plant – many times/repeat

12. Flowering

13. Flower Production
Four genetically regulated pathways to flowering have been identified
1. The light-dependent pathway
2. The temperature-dependent pathway
3. The gibberellin-dependent pathway
4. The autonomous pathway
Plants can rely primarily on one pathway, but all four pathways can be present

15. Autonomous Pathway
The autonomous pathway does not depend on external cues except for basic nutrition
It allows day-neutral plants to “count” nodes and “remember” node location

16. Autonomous Pathway--Plants Can Count
Upper Axillary Bud Released from Apical Dominance
Lower Axillary Bud Released from Apical Dominance
Intact plant
Shoot removed
Replacement shoot
Shoot
removed
here
5 nodes*
replaced
13 nodes*
*nodes = leaf bearing node
-Tobacco plants produce a uniform number of nodes before flowering - Upper axillary buds of flowering tobacco remember their position if rooted or grafted

17. Autonomous Pathway--Plants Can Remember
Shoot
removed
here
Shoot Florally Determined
Shoot Not Florally Determined a. b.
Intact plant
Rooted shoot
Flowering
rooted shoot
Not-Florally Determined Plants are said not to remember...Florally Determined plants are said to remember

18. Photoperiodism : the response of plant to flower to photoperiod (day length of 24h cycle)
Julien Tournois (1910) – 1st found about LD in flowering
George Klebs (1918) – observe the function of LD in flowering
Garner & Allard (1920) –found photoperiod ⇨relative duration of light and dark towards control flowering of certain crops. eg. tobacco – flowering once expose to short light period (SDP)

19. Hamner & Bonner (1938) – phenomena night break where dark disturbance during day time are not/a bit effect but light disturbance during night time inhibit flowering (SDP) or initiate flowering (LDP)
Dark time more function in determine reaction in photoperiod

20. Flowering response of Japanese morning glory (left) and black
henbane (right) to
daylength of 24-h
period.
Note the prominent
flowers (arrows) in
Japanese morning
glory under short
days and in black
henbane under long
days . Plants of each
species under both
photoperiod regimes
are of the same age
Long days Short days

21. Plant types responsive to photoperiodism
1. Short day plant (SDP)
The plant can only flower under day length shorter than its critical day length of 24 h cycle. eg. chrysanthemums
ie. the critical day length to induce flowering must be less than some maximum.
2. Long day plant (LDP)
The plant can only flower under daylength longer than its critical day length of 24 h cycle. eg. Chinese cabbage, beet etc.
ie the critical day length must be longer than a minimum

22. 3. Day neutral plant (DNP)
Without critical daylength, they can flower in any day length of 24h cycle, if other conditions are satisfied. eg. tomato, cucumber, egg plant and bean. After bred for long time , most of crops are not sensitive to day length, eg. early rice, spring soybean, spring maize and cotton
Critical Day Period:
It is the duration of the photoperiod or the dark period that ultimately determines whether the plant has to go through vegetative growth or to produce flowers. 
referred as the day length of 24h cycle - the shortest day length for LDP flower and the longest day length for SDP flower.

25. Photochrome
The chemical nature of the receptor is a the molecule PHYTOCHROME.
- biological compound that absorbs light
Two types : -Phytochrome far red (PFR)
-Phytochrome red (PR)
- interconvertible

28. * Plants measure the ratio of Pfr/Pr.
LDP would flower when the ratio is high
SDP would flower when the ratio is low
Since Pfr is labile and is broken down at night or reverts back to Pr - the longer the night, the lower the phytochrome (Pfr) content.
Thus, phytochrome is like the sand in an egg timer; the relative amount of Pfr remaining at the end of the night would be an indication of the day length.

29. Flowering in SDP: Flowering in LDP:
Short day plants flower when the night period is long.
In day light or red light, phytochrome red (Pr) is converted to phytochrome far red (Pfr). The conversion actually only requires a brief exposure to white or red light.
In the dark, Pfr is slowly converted back to Pr. A long night means that there is a long time for the conversion.
Under short day conditions (long night) at the end of the night period the concentration of Pfr is low.
In SDP, low Pfr concentration is the trigger for flowering.
Flowering in LDP:
Long day plants flower when the night period is short.
In day light (white or red) the Pr is converted to Pfr.
During periods when the day light period is long but critically the dark period is short, Pfr does not have long to breakdown in the dark. Consequently there remains a higher concentration of Pfr.
In LDP, high Pfr concentration is the trigger to flowering.

32. Dark period more important in photoperiodism reaction because interruption during night will inhibit flowering in SDP but promote flowering in LDP In short day plants, Pr promotes flowering when Pfr suppresses it, when it is vice versa in long day plants.

33. Leaves detected photoperiod (at least
Flowering hormone?
Leaves detected photoperiod (at least
one leaf must be present for the plant
to fllower)
The receptor of photoperiod is located within the leaf.
Photoperiodism sensor - leaf  bud
Buds produce flowers
Bud meristem changes from vegetative to flower growth

34. Stimulus transferred
Cut off all leaves after expose to photoperiod inhibit flowering
Cut off all leaves hrs later promote flowering
In 2005 a substance, mRNA (FL mRNA) was finally isolated that was found to be moving from leaf to flower meristem.
This mRNA provides a link between the phytochrome system (the receptor), its activation of genes in the leaf (mRNA synthesis) and the differentiation of the meristem into the flower structure.
Florigen - name given to the proposed flowering "hormone“.

36. Commercially importance
Flower industry eg. Chrysanthemum – sdp
Selection of variety/cultivar for vegetable and field crops
Manipulating Flowering Response
Use artificial light or dark to simulate daylength.
Light at night to lengthen day.
10 pm to 2 pm.
Cover with black cloth to shorten the day.

37. Temperature (T)
Vernalization ⇨ the process by which flowering is promoted by prolonged exposure to the cold of a typical winter
plant expose to low T to initiate and promote flowering
common in biennials and some perennial plants
reactions are varies among spesies/variety

39. eg. apple, cherry, pear, peaches
carrots, cabbage,
bulbs like tulip, onion
a. cold storage is used to preserve (sets) bulbs during winter this causes the sets to flower and produce seed in spring
b. to devernalize- sets are exposed to 27oC for 2-3 weeks before planting

40. Temperature and time of vernalization
-4℃—12℃. Most efficient 1～2 ℃
Reaction between temperature and time:
- in the range of vernalization temperature, the lower T, the shorter time.
- the lower temperature for vernalization the plant needs, the longer time lasts.
Table 8-1 Temperature and time for vernalization of wheat
Types temperature range(℃ ) days
Spring wheat ～ ～8
Semi winter wheat ～ ～15
Winter wheat ～ ～45

41. Kinetics of the vernalisation
• effective on actively growing plant.
ie. growing plant – under gone vegetative stage, seed stage (annual) or bulb
- Seeds must imbibed water (50% of seed dry weight) and the germination process has been initiated and exposed to low temperature ( vernalized). The vernalized seeds are dried and stored.
- other plants in particular the biennial eg. cabbage, must reach a certain minimum size or age before they can be vernalized ie. whole plant
• In general, the plant flowering need long day period and higher temperature after finishing vernalization, which induces flower differentiation

42. The site/part of vernalization is the growing point (shoot apex)
eg. celery
- shoot apex exposed to low temperature, other part of plant to normal (higher) temperature, the plant can flower.
-shoot apex to normal (higher) temperature, other part of plant low temperature, the plant remain vegetative
• The main part sensitive to low temperature is shoot apical meristem - bud, apex meristems

43. Facultative (quantitative)
Flowering will appear earlier (faster) once expose to low T eg. winter annual cereal
Absolute (obligate)
MUST expose to low T then flowering appear eg. biennial plants (cabbage)
Exposure to desired period

44. Lang (1957) found that GA function = vernalin, where GA promote flowering without vernalisation
Vernalin hypothesis: After passing vernalization, plant can form vernalin,which can transfer from one part to others and promote flower.
Vernalization only act the meristem of shoot apex. The effect can transfer form the cell to cell, not from organ to organ.

45. Low T vernalization and GA3 induce flowering in carrot
Control GA Low T

46. - may be herbaceous or woody
In relation to flowering and fruiting or duration of plant life, plants are group into:
Perennial plants
Able to flower and produce seeds and fruit for an indefinite number of growing seasons
- may be herbaceous or woody
-in deciduous plants all the leaves fall, and the tree is bare, at a particular time of year
-in evergreen plants, the leaves drop throughout the year, and so the plant is never completely bare
Annual plants
Grow, flower, and form fruits and seeds, and typically die within one growing season
- usually herbaceous
Biennial plants
Have two-year life cycles
-they store energy the first year and flower the second year

47. Application of vernalization on production
1. Treatment with vernalization and devernalization eg. onion for seed production 2. Induced crops to flower: forcing plants for earlier or late bloom blooms indoor 3. Selecting sowing date different types and characters

48. Interaction bet. T and photoperiodism
SDP initiate flowering at low T. eg. Chrysanthemum
As supplementary or complimentary to each other

49. Devernalisation Vernalisation cancellation
Before finishing vernalization, the effect will lost under high temperature
Devernalization - 25～40℃。
eg. vernalized onion bulbs expose to high temperature after vernalisation
Direct planting  flowering
Keep in warm temperature (2-3wks)  not flowering

50. Nutrition
Klebs (1918) – ratio of carbohydrate with inorganic nutrient esp N (C:N) high – will promote flowering
Kraus & Kraybill (US) – flowering on tomato plants was controlled by CHO:N level
CHO:N low – delay flowering & less flower (N high)
CHO low, N low – less vegetative part, less flower
CHO:N high – faster and no of flower increase
 there is no C:N critical for flowering