Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #148174
Title: INDUCTION AND RELEASE OF BUD DORMANCY IN WOODY PERENNIALS, A SCIENCE COMES OF AGE

Author
item ARORA, RAJEEV - IOWA STATE UNIV
item Rowland, Lisa
item TANINO, KAREN - UNIV OF SASKATCHE-WAN

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2003
Publication Date: 8/20/2003
Citation: Arora, R., Rowland, L.J., Tanino, K. 2003. Induction and release of bud dormancy in woody perennials, a science comes of age. Hortscience. 38:911-921.

Interpretive Summary: As part of their lifecycle, woody perennials must stop growing, or go dormant, in the fall and undergo changes to prepare for the winter, such as storing food reserves, dropping their leaves, and becoming cold hardy. In the spring with warmer temperatures returning, woody perennials break out of dormancy and begin to grow again. Understanding how dormancy is regulated is very important to fruit crop and nut industries and to the forestry industry. Much progress has been made in the last 10-20 years in the area of bud dormancy research in woody perennials. This article was written to review the available literature in the areas of bud dormancy research in which the most progress has been made. Major topics include (1) a section discussing systems and approaches that have been used to study bud dormancy and to separate changes related to dormancy from those related to cold hardiness, (2) a section on hormonal and water aspects of bud dormancy induction, (3) a section on bud dormancy release, (4) a section on changes occurring in the growing point related to the breakdown of connections between cells and then to their re-establishment, (5) a section on mapping dormancy-related traits, and (6) a section on introducing genes thought to be involved in dormancy into plants and examining their effects. This review article should be a very useful resource for scientists looking for an up-to-date review of dormancy research in woody perennials.

Technical Abstract: As part of their lifecycle, woody perennials must stop growing, or go dormant, in the fall and undergo changes to prepare for the winter, such as storing food reserves, dropping their leaves, and becoming cold hardy. In the spring with warmer temperatures returning, woody perennials break out of dormancy and begin to grow again. Understanding how dormancy is regulated is very important to fruit crop and nut industries and to the forestry industry. Much progress has been made in the last 10-20 years in the area of bud dormancy research in woody perennials. This article was written to review the available literature in the areas of bud dormancy research in which the most progress has been made. Major topics include (1) a section discussing systems and approaches that have been used to study bud dormancy and to separate changes related to dormancy from those related to cold hardiness, (2) a section on hormonal and water aspects of bud dormancy induction, (3) a section on bud dormancy release, (4) a section on changes occurring in the growing point related to the breakdown of connections between cells and then to their re-establishment, (5) a section on mapping dormancy-related traits, and (6) a section on introducing genes thought to be involved in dormancy into plants and examining their effects. This review article should be a very useful resource for scientists looking for an up-to-date review of dormancy research in woody perennials.