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ABSTRACT
Floral initiation in biennial-fruiting red raspberry is controlled by the interaction of temperature and photoperiod. To determine the threshold temperatures for short day (SD) floral initiation in early- and late-flowering cultivars, we exposed plants of ‘Glen Ample’, ‘Glen Mor’ and ‘Duo’ to 12°, 16° and 20°C in a daylight phytotron under naturally decreasing autumn daylength at Ås, Norway (59°40’N). While none of the cultivars ceased growing or initiated floral primordia at 20°C, ‘Glen Ample’ and ‘Glen Mor’ initiated buds at 12° and 16°C, whereas ‘Duo’ formed flower buds at 12°C only. Surprisingly, however, all plants flowered abundantly in spring after winter chilling in the dark at −1.5 ± 0.5°C for 7 months. We discuss two possible explanations for this unusual and novel flowering response. Fractional induction is well known in raspberry, and we visualise that in SD at 20°C, the SD requirement is fulfilled, while floral induction is still blocked by inappropriate temperature. A vernalisation-like response is alternatively suggested as this can take place at near-freezing temperatures in the dark. A combination of the two mechanisms is also possible and likely. We conclude, however, that the two floral induction processes are fundamentally different and controlled by different physiological mechanisms.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the skilful technical assistance by Rodmar Rivero with dissection of apices, and by Kari Grønnerød and Mirjana Sadojevic with plant cultivation and sampling of data.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.