ISHS Acta Horticulturae 589: X International Asparagus Symposium
STUDIES ON REMOBILIZATION OF FRUCTANS FROM ASPARAGUS ROOTS DURING HARVEST USING CARBON-14 AND HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY |
| Authors: | K. Woolley, D.J. Woolley |
| Keywords: | storage roots, yield, hydrolysis, carbohydrates |
| Abstract:
Every fern of two-year old plants were labelled with 14CO2 and the resulting radioactive photoassimilates allowed to accumulate in the root system. Remobilization of stored radioactive fructans during spear harvest the next season was followed by high performance liquid chromatography of extracts of specific roots during a light or heavy spear harvest. The following conclusions were inferred from the results. (a) Spears were able to utilize carbohydrate from distant roots. (b) Hydrolysis of long chain fructans provided the major source of carbohydrate for spear growth. (c) Hydrolysis of short chain fructans with a degree of polymerisation of three or four seems to be a limiting step during fructan hydrolysis. (d) The most recently stored carbohydrate, representing high specific activity carbohydrates stored in new roots, was utilized first for spear growth. | |
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