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Using Exogenous Hormone Application to Suppress Axillary Shoot Development in Tobacco

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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences Plant and Soil Sciences 2017 USING EXOGENOUS HORMONE APPLICATION TO SUPPRESS AXILLARY SHOOT DEVELOPMENT IN TOBACCO W. Jesse Carmack University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.075 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Carmack, W. Jesse, "USING EXOGENOUS HORMONE APPLICATION TO SUPPRESS AXILLARY SHOOT DEVELOPMENT IN TOBACCO" (2017). Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences. 88. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_etds/88 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. W. Jesse Carmack, Student Dr. Robert D. Miller, Major Professor Dr. Mark S. Coyne, Director of Graduate Studies USING EXOGENOUS HORMONE APPLICATION TO SUPPRESS AXILLARY SHOOT DEVELOPMENT IN TOBACCO THESIS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Kentucky By W. Jesse Carmack Director: Dr. Robert D. Miller, Professor of IPSS Lexington, KY 2017 Copyright © W. Jesse Carmack 2017 ABSTRACT OF THESIS USING EXOGENOUS HORMONE APPLICATION TO SUPRESS AXILLARY SHOOT DEVELOPMENT IN TOBACCO The variability in the number of basal axillary shoots (ground suckers) among all tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) varieties, has increased since the hydroponic transplant production system became the standard. The larger root ball of hydroponically produced transplants compared to traditionally produced transplants potentially generates a difference in the ratio of auxin (inhibits axillary shoot formation) to cytokinin (promotes lateral branching), that induces basal axillary shoot development. Starting in 2014, studies were conducted to investigate whether the addition of synthetic auxins or cytokinins to hydroponic transplant production could prevent ground sucker formation. Different tobacco cultivars, with high or low ground sucker potential, were evaluated in extensive dilution trials using the synthetic auxin 1-Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) or cytokinin 6-Benzylaminopurine (BA). Initial results indicated that a 2nM concentration of NAA significantly reduced axillary shoots in the known ground sucker producer, compared to the control. From these results, NAA and BA was added to the hydroponic transplant solution at concentrations in the range of 2-50 nM for the 2015 field trials; however, these studies failed to confirm the preliminary greenhouse findings. Nonetheless, it was clear from the 2015 field results that the varieties used are genetically different from one another in ground sucker potential. Following the 2015 field study, an additional greenhouse experiment using higher concentrations of NAA showed that a 1µM NAA hydroponic solution reduced ground sucker number. From this, a second set of field studies were conducted in 2016 using the higher rates of NAA. Burley variety TN86 and dark variety KTD6 (known ground sucker producers) were used in the 2016 studies. Five hormone treatments (NAA 500-5000 nM and an untreated control) and five tray (128, 200, 242, 288, and 338 cells per tray) were evaluated. Tray size was added to determine if increasing transplant root ball size was correlated with an increase in ground suckers. Although statistically significant differences were found among treatments applied to both TN86 and KTD6, there was no treatment that consistently reduced ground sucker numbers. No notable trend in ground sucker number indicates that an increase in the root ball size of tobacco transplants produced in the float bed system compared to traditionally produced transplants is not the sole cause of increased ground sucker number. In conclusion, from the results of the entire study, it is apparent that an exogenous auxin application (within the conditions used in this study) will not consistently or predictably suppress ground sucker development in tobacco; perhaps the only consistency in the data is how inconsistent ground sucker formation is from environment to environment, and variety to variety. KEYWORDS: Tobacco, Auxin, Cytokinin, Apical Dominance, Ground Suckers W. Jesse Carmack March 14, 2017 USING EXOGENOUS HORMONE APPLICATION TO SUPRESS AXILLARY SHOOT DEVELOPMENT IN TOBACCO By W. Jesse Carmack Dr. Robert D. Miller Director of Thesis Dr. Mark S. Coyne Director of Graduate Studies March 14, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Introduction ...................................................................................................1 Chapter Two: Literature Review Auxin............................................................................................................................4 Cytokinin .....................................................................................................................9 Apical Dominance .....................................................................................................10 Appeal of Preventing Basal Axillary Shoots in Tobacco ..........................................14 Current Sucker Control Methods ...............................................................................16 Transplant Production ................................................................................................17 Chapter Three: Materials and Methods In vitro Evaluation of the Effect of Auxin and Cytokinin on Tobacco Seedlings .....19 Greenhouse Evaluation of Tobacco Transplants Produced in Presence of PGRs .....21 Quantification of Basal Axillary Shoots on Field Grown Tobacco ...........................23 Chapter Four: Results and Discussion In vitro Evaluation of the Effect of Auxin and Cytokinin on Tobacco Seedlings .....27 Summary of In vitro Findings ............................................................................44 Greenhouse Evaluation of the Effect of Exogenous NAA and BA on Tobacco .......47 Summary of Initial Greenhouse Evaluations .....................................................71 2015 Field Evaluation of the Effect of Exogenous NAA and BA on Tobacco .........73 2015 Field Summary ..........................................................................................81 Greenhouse Evaluation of the Effect of Initial Lab Concentrations on TN86 ..........85 Summary of Second Greenhouse Evaluation ....................................................98 2016 Field Evaluation of the Effect of Exogenous Auxin and Tray Size ..................98 2016 Field Summary ........................................................................................114 Chapter Five: Summary and Conclusions .......................................................................115 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................120 Vita ...................................................................................................................................125 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Analysis of Variance for initial in vitro root length experiment ...........................28 Table 2 Analysis of Variance for the second in vitro root length experiment ...................33 Table 3 Analysis of Variance for in vitro CFR experiment ..............................................39 Table 4 Analysis of Variance for in vitro root fresh weight (g) ........................................45 Table 5 Analysis of Variance for greenhouse leaf number
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