Flowering promoters and starch and amino acids concentration in mango buds.
Osuna-Enciso T., Becerril-Román A. E., Mosqueda-Vázquez R., Villarreal-Romero M., Castillo-Morales A.
Author Affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo Unidad Culiacán, Carretera Eldorado km 5.5, Apdo. Postal 32-A, C.P. 80129, Culiacán, estado de Sinaloa, Mexico.
Revista Chapingo. Serie Horticultura 7 : 209-215
Abstract : The purpose of this research was to study the relationship between the amounts of amino acids and starch found in the mango buds, and also flowering induction. Five treatments were applied: KNO3 g/litre, NH4NO3 20 g/litre, ethrel ml/litre, girdling on stems, and control. Anatomic mango bud cuts were classified into three growth stages: vegetative, flowering initiation, and inflorescence differentiation. Starch and amino acid concentrations were also measured in these buds. The buds under nitrogen treatments had a faster transformation from the vegetative to the reproductive stage. A relationship between the starch concentration and the flowering initiation was not observed; therefore, it is quite possible that the starch found in buds is not an important factor that promotes flowering in mango trees. The analysis of amino acids in apical buds showed high level of glycine, asparagine, glutamine, alanine, serine, arginine, leucine, lysine, and treonine; while the analysis also showed that histidine, tyrosine, valine, phenylalanine, and isoleucine, were found in much lower levels. The highest amino acid concentration was found during flowering initiation, while the lowest levels were observed during the vegetative bud stage. These results indicate that high amino acid levels might be related to mango flowering initiation.