Effects of mechanically restricting enlargement of cucumber [Cucumis sativus] fruits on water and dry matter accumulation
1998
Kawabata, S. (Tokyo Univ. (Japan)) | Sakiyama, R.
The control of soluble sugar concentration during a rapidly growing stage was investigated in relation to water content in cucumber fruits. To evaluate the influences of the rate of water accumulation on the concentration of soluble sugars, the enlargement of the fruits was restricted by enclosing the fruits within acrylic sleeves to prevent mechanically the further accumulation of water for 3 to 4 days. The treatment restricted fruit enlargement by 40% to 72% of control fruits on a fresh weight basis, whereas dry matter and hexose contents increased from 127% to 138% and from 134% to 173%, respectively. Although sucrose constitutes a small percentage of total sugar, it increased significantly during the treatment. The activity of acid invertase was negatively correlated to the concentration of sucrose, suggesting that the significant accumulation of sucrose was related to the reduced activity of acid invertase. Whereas the concentration of soluble sugars consistently increased with time, the concentration of dry matter remained constant during the treatment, indicating that the accumulation of soluble sugars was not due to excessive import of carbohydrates relative to water inflow. The relationship between the concentration of soluble sugar and the rate of water accumulation is discussed
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