Abstract Detail

Ecophysiology

Abdul Ghaffar, Muhammad Akbar [1], Ramirez-Cadavid, David A. [2], Meulia, Tea [3], Cornish, Katrina [1].

Lights, Cold and ET Action! Increasing Rubber Production in Taraxacum kok-saghyz Roots.

Rubber yield can be manipulated, and often increased, by environmental and hormonal methods in Hevea brasiliensis, the world’s main rubber producing plant. Similar efforts are being attempted in the alternative rubber plant, Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TK). Different physiological and environmental factors will be tested, including light quality, cold induction and the hormone ethylene via the use of ethephon, in TK plants grown in raised beds or hydroponics. Analytes were quantified using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) as well as by microscopy. Rubber increased with these different physiological and environmental approaches. Supplemental lights doubled total rubber in 3 months. Cold treated plants had almost triple the rubber per root than controls, after 50 days. 1% ethephon solution at ambient temperature increased rubber concentration 1.6x after nine days, over the control. Cellular changes in the cytoplasm, and production of morphologically distinct rubber particles, were induced by stress, but these changes differed in cold and ethephon. It may be possible to adapt these tested methods, to increase rubber production in horticultural or agronomic TK production, either during growth or post-harvest.

1 - The Ohio State University, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Williams Hall,1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH, 44691, USA
2 - The Ohio State University, Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, FABE Building,1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH, 44691, USA
3 - The Ohio State University, Molecular and Cellular Imaging Center, Selby Hall,1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH, 44691, USA

Keywords:
Taraxacum kok-sagyz
Rubber
lights quality
cold induction
Ethephon.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Ecophysiology Poster Session
Location: Exhibit Hall/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PEP005
Abstract ID:316
Candidate for Awards:Physiological Section Best poster presentation,Physiological Section Physiological Section Li-COR Prize