| Abstract: | Kirk, W W., Davies, H. V. and Marshall, B. 1985. The effectof temperature on the initiation of leaf primordia in developingpotato sprouts.—J. exp. Bot. 36: 1634–1643. Initiation of leaf primordia in potato sprouted out of soilin light was an asymptotic function of thermal time and thebase temperature for the process was 3.6 °C. The parametervalues of the asymptotic function were universal for cv. MarisPiper. The estimated rate of leaf primordium initiation decreasedlinearly from 0.033 leaf pnmordia (K day)–1 when abouteight leaf primordia were present to zero after a maximum numberof 24 leaf primordia had been initiated. The decrease in rateof development with increasing number of primordia may be dueto depletion of mother tuber resources. The transition of theapex from a vegetative to a reproductive state was not the factorlimiting the initiation of additional leaf primordia. Key words: Potato, Solanum tuberosum L., leaf primordia initiation, temperature, thermal time, development |
