RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGES OF ENDOGENOUS HORMONES IN LITCHI (LITCHI CHINENSIS SONN.) OVULES

The normal and aborted ovules of litchi ( Litchi chinensis Sonn. cv. Lanzhu), at developmental stage, were used as experimental material. The relationship between embryonic development and changes of endogenous hormones in litchi ovules was studied. The results showed that the contents of IAA, GA 1+3 and ABA in normal ovules reached their highest level on the 7th day after anthesis, and then decreased, but the contents of IAA and GA 1+3 increased again from heart to torpedo stage, and CTK content was higher before the globular stage. ABA content in aborted ovules maintained a relatively high level, but the contents of IAA and GA 1+3 dropped to the lowest level, and CTK content was obviously lower than that in normal ovules during the embryo abortion. The changes in the contents of ZRs,DHZRs and iPAs showed different characteristics and affected the embryonic development at different stages. The relationship between the ratios of n (ABA) n -1 (IAA+GA 1+3 ), n (ABA) n -1 (CTK) and embryonic development was also discussed. Fig 3, Ref 10