© 1990 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
Bud dormancy in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Effect of chilling and photoperiod on dormancy release of beech seedlings
M. Falusi and R. Calamassi
Laboratori di Botanica agraria e forestale, Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale, Università di Firenze, Piazzale Cascine 28,
Italy / Received December 4, 1989
Summary
Two-year-old Fagus sylvatica L. seedlings were subjected to natural winter chilling or were overwintered in a heated greenhouse. Plants were then grown
in controlled environment chambers with photoperiods of 9 or 13 h. Renewal of bud growth was found to be mainly determined
by winter chilling. There was a
slight interaction between chilling and photoperiod. Sprouting of apical buds took two to three times as long in unchilled
plants as in chilled plants. Shoot elongation was influenced by chilling and was also greater in the 13-h photoperiod than
in the 9-h photoperiod, but this may have been due at least in part to the higher irradiance. Chilling resulted in rapid dormancy
loss and changed the growth pattern from basitonal to acrotonal.
