Comparative Studies On The Differences Of Physiological And Biochemical Characteristics Between Male And Female Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis L. is a member of the Lily family. Asparagus is by nature a dioecious species.-the sexes are on different plants. Males produce 25-40% more spears, while females produce larger spears. In order to know more of the differences between male and female asparagus,We studied some physiological and biochemical characteristics of male and female asparagus.1 Dynamic changes of isozymes activities of male and female asparagus during growth. SOD activity of cladophylls and roots increased between May and July. CAT activity of cladophylls increased .while CAT activity of roots increased at first and later it decreased. During the whole growth period , CAT activity changed more sharply compared to SOD activity .POD activities showed a contrast trend compared to CAT activity. CAT activity of cladophylls and roots of male and female plants showed significant differences. SOD activity of roots and POD activities of cladophylls showed differences too. In general ,enzyme activity of male plants were higher than female plants. Before florescence, the isozymograms of peroidase showed no differences between each plant. After florescence .different isozymograms appeared between male and female plants.Two major peroxidase bands(Rf 0.27and0.29)were present in female cladophylls and roots, while in male cladophylls and roots the band Rf=0.29 were absent, and two more bands were presented. NSE isozyme and soluble protein bands showed polymorphism not only between male and female but also between varieties. The band Rf=0.58 presented in male cladophylls of UC157 but was absent in female cladophylls. In male roots of UC157 the band Rf=0.51 was not observed while it presented in female roots.Compared to UC157,the band Rf=0.61 was absented in female cladophylls of UC800 and another band Rf=0.58 was added ,the same bands were found in male cladophylls to UC157.Results showed that electrophoresis bands of soluble protein of female cladophyllls and roots were much weaker than male.2 Changes of carbohydrate contents of male and female asparagus during growth-Sucrose content of cladophyll was highest in September.and Sucrose content of cladophyll of female plants was much higher than male plants. While sucrose content of roots of male plants was higher than female plants during the whole growth season. The content of total soluble sugar of femalecladophylls was a little higher than male, but the difference was not statistically significant. Thetotal soluble sugar content of roots of increased constantly after September and reached highest in November,and it was much higher in male roots than female during the whole growth period.3 Changes of carbohydrate contents of male and female asparagus during autumn harvest season. Carbohydrate contents of upground parts , cladophylls and storage roots showed similar trend.Reducing sugar content of upground parts and cladophylls changed little during this time, and no significant difference was found between male and female plants, but in storage roots, Reducing sugar content of male plants became higher than female after September 8th and reached significant level in September 15th.Sucrose content constantly increased from September 1st to September 22nd and sharply decreased after that time. There were no regular difference between male and female carbohydrate content of upground parts and cladophylls, while the carbohydrate content of male storage roots was much higher than that of female. This maybe the reason why male plants produce more spears.4 Dynamic changes of activity of several reactive-oxygen-scavenging enzymes in asparagus cladophylls infected by Phoma asparagi Sacc. CAT activity of asparagus cladophylls rapidly increased after being infected by Phoma asparagi Sacc, CAT activity of male and female plants was almost the same, but the CAT activity of male plants of UC157 and UC800 increased 134.5% and 61.6% than that of control. It is much higher than that of female(54.9% and 25.7%). APX activity of asparagus cladophylls rapidly increased at th...