Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2017
Tubers of purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) were soaked in distilled water, 9.3 × 10−6M 6-benzylamino-9 (tetrahydropyran-2yl)-9 H-purine (SD8339), or 1.39 × 10−7M kinetin and sprouted in darkness. Excised plants from tubers sprouted in sand culture were grown in half-strength Hoagland solution in 50-ml erlenmeyer flasks enclosed with aluminum foil. The leaves and upper part of the stem of each plant were exposed to an illumination of 32 klux. Rhizomes as well as untreated and treated tubers were exposed to red (R), red followed by far-red (R-FR), or red followed by far-red and red (R-FR-R) monochromatic light. R, R-FR, and R-FR-R illuminations of rhizomes from untreated tubers and plants produced basal bulbs while dark controls did not. Pfr did not revert to Pr. Dark controls produced significantly fewer basal bulbs than did rhizomes of untreated tubers and plants exposed to R, R-FR, or R-FR-R illuminations. There was no significant difference between R, R-FR, and R-FR-R illuminations. Tubers treated with SD8339 or kinetin produced basal bulbs in darkness but untreated tubers did not. Rhizomes of tubers treated with SD8339 or kinetin and exposed to R illumination produced basal bulbs. There was a significant difference in the number of bulbs produced by SD8339 or kinetin treatments and R illumination in contrast with the water controls in darkness. The effect of R illumination was similar to that of SD8339 or kinetin.