Cold-acclimation among Genotypes of Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) under Controlled and Field Conditions

Date

2014

Authors

Kim, JaeJoon

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

University of Guelph

Abstract

Winterhardiness is important for asparagus grown in temperate regions. To improve the trait through breeding, genetic variation and reliable selection methodology are required. Seedlings of three cultivars with varying adaptation to Southern Ontario were acclimated under different combinations of temperature and photoperiod, and freezing tolerance and metabolites were assessed. Only low-temperature induced freezing-tolerance, cultivar response varied consistently with field longevity observations, and the trait was correlated with chlorophyll concentration, crown dehydration, and crown proline and high-molecular-weight fructan (HF) concentrations. In a field study, germplasm acclimated under natural conditions varied for metabolites associated with freezing tolerance, including storage root and rhizome percentage water, and concentrations of fern chlorophyll, storage root glucose, sucrose, and proline, and rhizome HF. Narrow-sense heritability estimates were moderate for fern chlorophyll, rhizome glucose and sucrose, and storage root proline concentrations. Improving winterhardiness in asparagus may be possible through selecting heritable traits in a seedling assay.

Description

Keywords

Asparagus, cold acclimation, freezing tolerance, growth chamber, low temperature, photoperiod, senescence

Citation