Endogenous gibberellin- and cytokinin-like substances in cultured shoot tissues of apple, Malus pumila cv. Jonathan, in relation to adventitious root formation

The frequencies of adventitious root formation in vitro of isolated shoots from bud cultures of apple (Malus pumila cv. Jonathan) after 1, 7 and 31 subcultures (weeks 5, 29 and 109 after the initial culture) were 5, 78 and 95% respectively. Endogenous gibberellin-like substances (GA) were extracted, chromatographed on SiO2 partition columns, and assayed on dwarf rice (Oryza sativa cv. Tan-ginbozu). The levels of GA in shoots from the 1st, 7th and 31st subcultures were 40, 19 and 14 ng GA3 eq./g dry weight of tissue, respectively, a trend which suggests an inverse relationship between endogenous GA level and rooting ability. This is consistent with the fact that applied GA3 inhibits rooting in apple and many other species. The major peak of GA activity eluted coincidentally with GA1/GA3/GA19. Endogenous cytokinin-like substances (CK) were chromatographed on paper and assayed with soybean hypocotyl sections. In contrast to the decrease in GA activity, CK activity increased 1.5–2.7 fold in the later subcultures (cytokinin activity per shoot, however, declined).