Characterization of Sprouting and Shoot Formation Processes of Rooted Cuttings of Water Yam (<I>Dioscorea alata</I> L.)

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  • MATSUMOTO Ryo
    Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA)
  • SHIWACHI Hironobu
    Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA)
  • KIKUNO Hidehiko
    International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
  • IRIE Kenji
    Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA)
  • TOYOHARA Hidekazu
    Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA)
  • KOMAMINE Atsushi
    Research Institutes of Evolutionary Biology
  • FUJIMAKI Hiroshi
    Research Fellow, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization

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  • Characterization of sprouting and shoot formation processes of rooted cuttings of water yam (Dioscorea alata L.)

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Water yam produces a single or a few tubers per plant and the rate of clonal propagation by tuber cutting is extremely low. Therefore, it is important to develop a more efficient method of clonal propagation by the use of vine cuttings. It is generally recognized that in the vine cuttings of water yam, axillary buds pre-differentiated on leaf axils remain dormant and that shoots or mini-tubers tend to be formed at the base of the axillary buds. The objective of the present study was to characterize the sprouting and shoot formation processes of rooted cuttings of water yam. These processes in an accession, Obukosumbori, were investigated in a micro-anatomy study using a stereoscopic microscope and a transmission optical microscope. The following results were obtained. While an axillary bud differentiating on leaf axils buried in the ground remained dormant, enlarged tissue appearing like multiple shoots was newly developed at the base of the axillary bud. When no shoots were formed, a spherical body appearing like a bulbil with several shoot primordia developed from the enlarged tissue at the base of axillary buds. The effects of the collection time of cuttings on shoot formation of rooted cuttings were investigated in 8 accessions of water yam. This is the first report in which it was shown that the tendency of shoot formation from rooted cuttings varied among the accessions and could be categorized into three types. The results disclosed that the rates of survival of the cuttings and shoot formation of rooted cuttings were higher when the cuttings were collected from younger plants and tended to decrease with the progression of the growth stages of mother plants.

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