ASPECTS OF TRANSLOCATION OF CARBON IN THE TULIP

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Abstract
SUMMARY: Mature tulip plants were treated with 14CO2 in June after flower senescence, and the fate of 14C‐labelled products followed at irregular intervals by fractionation, chromatography and autoradiography until the senescence of the above‐ground parts and, later, following replanting, when reserves were mobilized for the growth of new shoots, new daughter bulbs and roots.Following feeding with 14CO2, sucrose was identified as the main mobile sugar which was transported down the vascular bundles of the shoot to the daughter bulbs where it accounted for 74% of the total plant radioactivity after 7 days. In the daughter bulb conversion occurred progressively with time to starch and non‐starch ethanol‐insoluble material.After replanting in mid‐September, both shoots and roots showed high radioactivity (10% and 14% respectively of total activity, 60 days after replanting). Vascular tissues were strongly labelled indicating their role in the redistribution of carbohydrates which were mainly sucrose and fructose polymers in the daughter bulbs and sucrose and glucose in the growing organs.