Relation between photosynthetic starch formation and dry-weight partitioning between the shoot and root.

Soybean Glycine max, tobacco Nicotiana tabacum and red-beet Beta vulgaris seedlings had low relative root weights and accumulated high levels of leaf starch, whereas the reverse was true for wheat Triticum aestivum seedlings. A similar relationship between starch formulation and relative root weight was observed in comparisons among 6 peanut Arachis hypogaea cultivars and with 'Ransom' soybean and 2 peanut cultivars exposed to a variety of nutritional treatments. Results suggested that carbon partitioned into leaf starch was preferentially utilized for growth of shoots at night. Partitioning of carbon between starch and sucrose in the leaf may be one of the factors that affects the growth of shoots relative to roots.-from Authors