The control of bud dormancy in potato tubers : Evidence for the primary role of cytokinins and a seasonal pattern of changing sensitivity to cytokinin.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuber buds normally remain dormant through the growing season until several weeks after harvest. In the cultivar Majestic, this innate dormancy persisted for 9 to 12 weeks in storage at 10° C, but only 3 to 4 weeks when the tubers were stored at 2° C. At certain stages, supplying cytokinins to tubers with innately dormant buds induced sprout growth within 2 d. The growth rate was comparable to that of buds whose innate dormancy had been lost naturally. Cytokinin-treatment did not accelerate the rates of cell division and cell expansion in buds whose innate dormancy had already broken naturally. Gibberellic acid did not induce sprout growth in buds with innate dormancy. We conclude that cytokinins may well be the primary factor in the switch from innate dormancy to the non-dormant state in potato tuber buds, but probably do not control the subsequent sprout growth.