The Control of Branch Growth on Potato Tubers: II. THE PATTERN OF SPROUT GROWTH

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Abstract
Following the end of dormancy or after desprouting, many buds on a potato tuber start to grow. However, if the storage temperature favours rapid growth, a number may remain inhibited. After a time, the smaller sprouts stop growing. This inhibition affects only those sprouts below a certain length, which is proportional to the length of the longest sprout. This critical length is relatively greater for small tubers than for large ones (i.e. longer sprouts are inhibited); it is also greater for tubers stored under dry conditions than for those under moist conditions. The results are interpreted in terms of a correlative inhibitior, continuously produced under the influence of growing buds and continuously destroyed as it moves up into all stems. It is suggested that in the terminal bud of the stem there is a sensitive region which controls the growth of the other stem tissues and on which the inhibitor acts. It stems longer than the critical length the inhibitor is possibly inactivated before it reaches this sensitive tissue; in shorter stems the inhibitor acts on the tissue and hence inhibits stem elongation.

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