Abstract
Rheum spp. genotypes represented by full-grown plants maintained their ranking for total oxalate, water-soluble oxalate and malate concentration over a range of environments. The correlation between oxalate content in early seedling v. more adult stages was low, but a negative correlation between early petiole weight and oxalate content in full-grown plants may have a predictive value in breeding programmes. The oxalate concentration of each petiole increased as it aged. As the individual plant grew larger, the petioles accumulated less oxalate but more malate. The negative correlation between the contents of oxalate and malate may be functional, or may reflect biosynthetic relationships.

This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit: