Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evidence that Tuber Respiration is the Pacemaker of Physiological Aging in Seed Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.)

  • Published:
Journal of Plant Growth Regulation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Storage temperatures greater than 4 °C (that is, heat-unit accumulation) increase respiration and accelerate physiological aging of seed tubers. The degree of apical dominance is a good indicator of physiological age (PAGE). As seed age advances, apical dominance decreases, resulting in more stems, greater tuber set, and shifts in tuber size distribution. Herein we provide evidence that tuber respiration rate may constitute the “pacemaker” of aging. Tubers exposed to a brief high-temperature age-priming treatment initially in storage, followed by holding at 4 °C for the remainder of a 190–200-day storage period, maintained a higher basal metabolic (respiration) rate throughout storage compared with tubers stored the entire season at 4 °C. Tubers thus “remembered” the age-priming treatment as reflected by their elevated respiration rate. Moreover, reducing the respiration rate of age-primed seed by subsequently storing it at 3.5 % O2 (4 °C) until planting significantly attenuated the effects of the aging treatment on apical dominance, tuber set, and size distribution. The effect of the age-priming treatment on the magnitude of the respiratory response was the same whether given at the beginning or toward the end of storage. However, moving the age-priming treatment progressively later in the storage season effectively decreased its impact on plant growth and development. These results underscore the importance of time in the aging process. Exposure of seed to a high-temperature age-priming treatment at the beginning or end of storage elevated respiration (the pacemaker) to the same extent; however, the timing of these treatments resulted in vastly different physiological ages. The longer the respiration rate of tubers remains at an elevated level, the greater their PAGE at planting. Thus, an accurate but impractical measure of PAGE may be the respiratory output from vine kill to subsequent planting. Respiration appears to be the pacemaker of PAGE and production, and storage conditions that affect respiration may “set the clock speed” that will ultimately determine the PAGE at planting.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Caldiz DO (2009) Physiological age research during the second half of the twentieth century. Potato Res 52:295–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman WK (2005) Physiological ageing of potato tubers: a review. Ann Appl Biol 137:189–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eshel D, Teper-Bamnolker P (2012) Can loss of apical dominance in potato tuber serve as a marker of physiological age? Plant Signal Behav 7(9):1158–1162

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hiser C, McIntosh L (1990) Alternative oxidase of potato is an integral membrane protein synthesized de novo during aging of tuber slices. Plant Physiol 93:312–318

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iritani WM (1968) Factors affecting physiological aging (degeneration) of potato tubers used as seed. Am J Potato Res 45(3):111–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iritani WM, Thornton RE (1984) Potatoes: Influencing seed tuber behavior. Pacific Northwest Cooperative Extension Bulletin 248, Washington State University, Pullman

  • Iritani WM, Weller LD, Knowles NR (1983) Relationship between stem number, tuber set and yield of Russet Burbank potatoes. Am J Potato Res 60:423–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janes HW, Wiest SC (1980) Comparison between aging of slices and ethylene treatment of whole potato tubers. Plant Physiol 66:171–174

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles NR, Botar GI (1991) Modeling the effects of potato seed-tuber age on plant establishment. Can J Plant Sci 71:1219–1232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles NR, Botar GI (1992) Effect of altering the physiological age of potato seed–tubers in the fall on subsequent production in a short-season environment. Can J Plant Sci 72:275–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles NR, Knowles LO (1989) Correlations between electrolyte leakage and degree of saturation of polar lipids from aged potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuber tissue. Ann Bot 63:331–338

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowles NR, Knowles LO (2004) Predicting tuber set and size development from stem numbers. Potato Prog 4(9):1–3

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowles NR, Knowles LO (2006) Manipulating stem number, tuber set, and yield relationships for northern- and southern-grown potato seed lots. Crop Sci 46:284–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles NR, Knowles LO (2011) Stem number, tuber set and size distribution relationships for Russet Norkotah selections (CO-3, CO-8) in the Columbia Basin. Potato Prog 11(8):1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowles NR, Driskill EP Jr, Knowles LO (2009) Sweetening responses of potato tubers of different maturity to conventional and non-conventional storage temperature regimes. Postharvest Biol Technol 52:49–61

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Knowles NR (1993a) Involvement of auxin in the loss of apical dominance and plant growth potential accompanying aging of potato seed-tubers. Can J Bot 71:541–550

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Knowles NR (1993b) Age of potato seed-tubers influences protein synthesis during sprouting. Physiol Plant 89:262–270

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Knowles NR (1993c) Changes in lipid peroxidation and lipolytic and free-radical scavenging enzyme activities during aging and sprouting of potato seed-tubers. Plant Physiol 102:115–124

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Knowles NR (1996a) Nature of enhanced respiration during sprouting of aged potato seed-tubers. Plysiol Plantarum 97(2):228–236

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Knowles NR (1996b) Oxidative stress results in increased sinks for metabolic energy during aging and sprouting of potato seed-tubers. Plant Physiol 112:1301–1313

    PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Knowles NR (2003) Wound-induced superoxide production and PAL activity decline with potato tuber age and wound healing ability. Physiol Plant 117:108–117

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Houtz RL, Knowles NR (1999) Age-induced protein modifications and increased proteolysis in potato seed-tubers. Plant Physiol 119:89–100

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Iyer S, Knowles NR (2007) Strboh A homologue of NADPH oxidase regulates wound-induced oxidative burst and facilitates wound-healing in potato tubers. Planta 227:25–36

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar GNM, Lulai EC, Suttle JC, Knowles NR (2010) Age-induced loss of wound-healing ability in potato tubers is partly regulated by ABA. Planta 232:1433–1445

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lenfesty CM (1967) Soil survey: Adams county. Conservation Service, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Makarieva AM, Gorshkov VG, Li B, Chown SL, Reich PB, Gavrilov VM (2008) Mean mass-specific metabolic rates are strikingly similar across life’s major domains: evidence for life’s metabolic optimum. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:16994–16999

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mikitzel LJ, Knowles NR (1989) Polyamine metabolism of potato seed-tubers during long-term storage and early sprout development. Plant Physiol 91:183–189

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moll A (1994) The effects of physiological ageing of seed tubers on growth characteristics of eight potato cultivars tested under controlled conditions. Potato Res 37:11–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien PJ, Allen EJ, Bean JN, Griffith RL, Jones SA, Jones JL (1983) Accumulated day-degrees as a measure of physiological age and the relationships with growth and yield in early potato varieties. J Agric Sci 101(3):613–631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reich PB, Tjoelker MG, Machado J, Oleksyn J (2006) Universal scaling of respiratory metabolism, size and nitrogen in plants. Nature 439:457–461

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Struik PC (2007) The canon of potato science. 40. Physiological age of seed tubers. Potato Res 52:295–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Struik PC, van der Putten PEL, Caldiz DO, Scholte K (2006) Response of stored potato seed tubers from contrasting cultivars to accumulated day-degrees. Crop Sci 46:1156–1168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Es A, Hartmans KJ (1981) Respiration. In: Rastovski A, van Es A (eds) Storage of potatoes. Post-harvest behavior, store design, storage practice, handling. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, pp 120–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Loon CD (1987) Effect of physiological age on growth vigour of seed potatoes of two cultivars. 4. Influence of storage period and storage temperature on growth and yield in the field. Potato Res 30:441–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weeda SM, Kumar GNM, Knowles NR (2011) Protein mobilization from potato tubers during long-term storage and daughter tuber formation. Int J Plant Sci 172:459–470

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zabrouskov V, Knowles NR (2002a) Lipid metabolism during aging of high α-linolenate-phenotype potato tubers. Arch Biochem Biophys 402:136–148

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zabrouskov V, Knowles NR (2002b) Changes in lipid molecular species and sterols of microsomal membranes during aging of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) seed-tubers. Lipids 37(3):309–315

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zabrouskov V, Kumar GNM, Spychalla JP, Knowles NR (2002) Oxidative metabolism and the physiological age of seed potatoes are affected by increased α-linolenate content. Physiol Plant 116(2):172–185

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Washington State Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, USDA-ARS State Partnership Potato Program, Washington State Potato Commission, and the Washington State University Agricultural Research Center to NRK.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postharvest Physiology and Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Horticulture, Washington State University, P. O. Box 646414, Pullman, WA, 99164-6414, USA

    J. M. Blauer, L. O. Knowles & N. R. Knowles

Authors
  1. J. M. Blauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L. O. Knowles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. N. R. Knowles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. R. Knowles.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 24 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Blauer, J.M., Knowles, L.O. & Knowles, N.R. Evidence that Tuber Respiration is the Pacemaker of Physiological Aging in Seed Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.). J Plant Growth Regul 32, 708–720 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-013-9338-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-013-9338-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation