MORPHOLOGICAL-STUDY OF THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF BASAL SHOOTS IN ROSES

Basal shoots are the vigorous shoots at the base of the plant. In rose s, basal shoots determine the potential flower production of the plant . Although many attempts have been made to promote the formation of ba sal shoots for commercial production, little attention has been paid t o the origin and development of these shoots. The present study addres ses this by following the development of a rose plant, raised from a c utting. Basal shoots only originated from basal axillary buds and not from adventitious buds. The first basal shoot of a plant emerged from one of the two most basal axillary buds of the primary shoot. The seco nd basal shoot also emerged from an axillary bud of the primary shoot or, sometimes, from an axillary bud of the first basal shoot. If a thi rd basal shoot occurred, it originated from an axillary bud of a basal shoot. The buds, which became the first and second basal shoot, were already present as secondary buds in the axils of the scales of the ax illary bud when used for propagation. During the development of this p rimary bud into the primary shoot the secondary buds continued to init iate new leaf primordia, but did not sprout until the growth of the pr imary shoot slowed down. Removal of these two secondary axillary buds in the primary bud resulted in less basal shoots per plant and the bas al shoots developed from buds number 3, 4 or 7.