Eucalyptus Physiology. III. Frost Resistance.

Abstract

The effects of different hardening regimes were studied in E. viminalis by varying temperature, light conditions and photoperiod. The role of root temperature in dehardening was investigated in E. grandis. The relationship between leaf glaucousness and frost resistance was reexamined in E. urnigera and in crosses between the glaucous frost-resistant species E. pulverulenta and the green. less-resistant species E. grandis. These studies involved seedlings but adult material was also used when checking the association between frost resistance and G, the growth regulator in E. grandis.

Provided that night temperatures were close to freezing, rapid hardening was independent of photoperiod, light source and day/night temperature differentials. No significant relationship between level of frost resistance and intensity of leaf glaucousness was observed in a segregating progeny of E. urnigera. In F₂ and backcross progenies between E. pulverulenta and E. grandis, no evidence was obtained for either physiological or genetical links between glaucousness and frost resistance. As in several other Eucalyptus species, low root temperatures delayed rapid dehardening in E. grandis.

Increased frost resistance towards the top of E. grandis seedlings was associated with marked ontogenetic increases in G content. The G content of a 2 m sapling was highest in winter when maximum frost resistance had developed. This and other supporting evidence suggests that G has a role in the frost resistance of E. Grandis perhaps by affecting active electron transport properties of membranes. No information of this kind is available for other Eucalyptus species.