Floral development and bolting of spinach as affected by photoperiod and integrated photosynthetic photon flux during transplant production

We recently showed that spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) transplants produced under a short photoperiod and low air temperature were characterized by a delay of bolting and short flower-stalk length at harvest (Chun et al., 200 0a). The present study was conducted to determine whether these changes are caused by the short photoperiod itself or by the lower integrated photosyn thetic photon flux (IPPF). Shoot and root dry weights of transplants increa sed significantly with increasing IPPF, but were not affected by a change i n the photoperiod. However, the floral development indices of transplants w ere significantly greater under a 16- than under a 10- or 13-hours/day phot operiod, but were not affected by a change in IPPF. The percentage of bolte d plants 3 days after transplanting (DAT) increased significantly with incr easing photoperiod (from 0% at 10 hours/day to more than 85% at 16 hours/da y). Flower-stalk length increased with increasing photoperiod (e.g., at 14 DAT, from 15 mm at the shorter photoperiods to 80 mm at 16 hours/day), but was not affected by a change in IPPF. These results show that the delay of bolting that occurs when the photoperiod is reduced during transplant produ ction is due to the delay of floral development and not to retarded vegetat ive growth as a result of reduced IPPF.