Vol.2, No.2, 111-116 (2011)
doi:10.4236/as.2011.22016
C
opyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/AS/
Agricultural Sciences
Photo-temperature response of ramie (Boehmeria nivea
(L.) Gaud.) male sterile lines
Fei-Hu Liu1*, Hai-Quan Huang1,2, Shou-Wen Zhang3, Xue-Ni Liang1
1Plant Improvement and Utilization Laboratory,Yunnan University, Kunming, China;
*Corresponding Aut hor: hnplantbreed@gmail.com
2College of Landscape Architecture, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China;
3Department of Ph a rmacy, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China;
Received 3 February 2011; revised 2 March 2011; accepted 31 March 2011.
ABSTRACT
Six male sterile lines (MSLs) of ramie (Boehme-
ria nivea (L.) Gaud.) were grown in dark rooms
under the photoperiods of 9.5 h, 11 h or 12.5 h
d–1 in spring and summer seasons (different en-
vironmental temperatures) to test their devel-
opmental response to photoperiod and tempe-
rature. The MSLs showed little difference in ve-
getative growth duration, but different devel-
opment rates in the reproductive growth stage
under the tested conditions. Higher temperature
(grown in summer) mainly accelerated vegeta-
tive growth, while the short photoperiod treat-
ment accelerated the reproductive growth of the
MSLs. Moreover, the short photoperiod treat-
ment combined with higher temperature obvi-
ously accelerated both the vegetative and re-
productive growth of the MSLs. But the effect of
higher temperature decreased, or even disap-
peared along with the photoperiod elongation.
The MSLs were divided into 5 photo-tempera-
ture response types, based on the flower bud-
ding acceleration of short photoperiod and the
approximate temperature response index.
Keywords: Flower Budding Acceleration;
Photoperiod Sensitivity; Ramie (Boehmeria Nivea
(L.) Gaud.); Temperature Response Index
1. INTRODUCTION
Male sterility exists in many plant species [1]. The
discovery of plant male sterility allowed the use of crop
heterosis, resulting in great achievements in crops such
as corn, rice, wheat, rape and many vegetables [1,2].
Ramie, mainly grown in China, the Philippines, Brazil,
India and Viet Nam, is one of the most popular textile
fiber plants. Ramie fabrics are becoming popular all over
the world owing the mode of “back to the nature”, which
is leading the ramie industry into a new development era.
Ramie male sterile plants were found amongst local cu l-
tivars in the 1960’s [3]. Male sterility can also be pro-
duced by chemical induction [4]. Although some pro-
gress has been made in the biochemical and physiologi-
cal traits of ramie male sterile lines [5,6] and in the
utilization of ramie male sterile heterosis [7,8], a lack of
understanding of the photo-temperature responses of
male sterile lines (MSLs) has impeded further advance-
ments in ramie male sterility utilization. Therefore, we
investigated the development of ramie MSLs under dif-
ferent photoperiods and temperatures (grown in different
seasons), with a view to characterizing their response to
photoperiod and temperature. This information will pro-
vide guidance for determining cross combinations, assist
with the breeding of new cultivars and assist with ramie
seed production generally.
2. MATERIALS AND METHOD
The tested ramie male sterile lines ( MSLs) GS13-942,
GSA-2, SS370, GS14-4, GS14-1 and GS15-8, obtained
via chemical induction from a local cultivar (Liang et al.
1998), were planted in 25 × 35 cm pots under normal
management. The MSLs were treated under 9.5, 11 and
12.5 h·d–1 photoperiods of daylight (natural light), re-
spectively in the spring and in the summer, by putting
them into dark rooms in late afternoon and getting out of
dark rooms in the morning, when the plants grew up to
30 cm tall (30 days old in the spring and 15 days old in
the summer). Pot cultured MSLs, grown under the natu-
ral conditions were used as the controls. Five replicate
pots of each line were used for each photoperiod treat-
ment. Dark room treatment terminated once pistillate
flowers had blossomed. Some MSLs had no staminate
flowers, so the opening s of p istillate flowers (stigma em-
ergence) were recorded. Daily outside temperature data
were collected during the period of experiment.
F. H. Liu et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 111-116
Copyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/AS/
112
The developmental acceleration (DA, %) as a result of
a short photoperiod (or a high temperature) treatment
was calculated as [(A B)/A] 100 [9], wh ere A was the
growth duration under the long photoperiod (i.e. 12.5 h
d–1, in this experiment), or under low temperature (in the
spring, in this experiment) and B the growth duration
under the short photoperiod (i.e. 9.5 h·d–1), or high tem-
perature (in the summer). Similarly, the flower budding
acceleration (FBA, %) of a short photoperiod treatment
was calculated as [(NM)/N] 100 [10], where N was
the number of days from shoot emergence to flower
budding for the controls, and M represented the number
of days from shoot emergence to flower budding under
the short photoperiod. An approximate temperature re-
sponse index (TRI) was calculated as (LH)/(ThTl)
[10], where L was the number of days from shoot emer-
gence to flower budding under the low temperature con-
ditions (in the spring for this experiment), H was the
number of days from shoot emergence to flower budding
under the high temperature conditions (in the summer),
Th represented the mean temperature during the summer
treatment period, and Tl was the mean temperature dur-
ing the spring treatment period. Statistical analyses were
done with Statistica 5.
3. RESULTS
3.1. Development Rates of the MSLs under
Short Photoperiod in Different Seasons
The vegetative growth stage, the number of days from
shoot emergence to pistillate budding, showed no evi-
dent difference for the spring treatment, but different for
the summer treatment among the tested MSLs (Table 1).
The MSLs had significant differences in their repro-
ducetive growth duration, the number of days from pis-
tillate budding to pistillate flower blooming, both for the
spring or summer treatments. In addition, under the same
short photoperiod condition (9.5 h·d–1), the MSLs had a
much shorter vegetative growth duration in the summer
than in the spring (Table 1, column av erage). Therefor e,
it is important to adjust the development schedule to
meet the parents’ flowering time when the MSLs are
used in cross breeding.
3.2. High Temperature Accelerates the
Development of Ramie MSLs Mainly in
the Vegetative Growth Periods
Under the suitable temperatures for ramie growth and
under a given photoperiod, higher environmental tem-
perature (summer treatment) accelerated the develop-
ment of the MSLs, resulting in a reduction of growth
duration (Ta bl e 2). This confirmed the sensitivity of the
MSLs to temperature. The development accelerations in
the summer indicated that the high temperature in-
creased the development rate more for the vegetative
growth stage than for the reproductive growth stage
(Table 2). Here the period from shoot emergence (SE) to
pistillate budding (PB) is the veg etative growth duration,
while the period from pistillate budding (PB) to pistillate
flower blooming (PFB) is the reproductive growth dura-
tion.
Among the MSLs, GS13-942 and GS14-1 were highly
sensitive to season change (maybe mainly the effect of
temperature), showing the approximate temperature re-
Table 1. Development duration of ramie MSLs under 9.5 h·d–1 photoperiod.
Developmental duration of MSLs (d)†
Growth
period Seasons Daily mean
temperature(˚C) GS13-942 GSA-2 GS15-8SS370 GS14-4GS14-1
Aver-
age‡ P-value
Spring 23.0 39a 39a 39a 39a 40a 39a 39a 0.000
SE-PB Summer 29.4 18c 20b 22a 22a 23a 20b 21b 0.000
Spring 24.4 22a 22a 17b 18b 21a 17b 19a 0.062
PB-PFB Summer 30.8 20a 17b 17b 16b 17b 14c 17a 0.062
SE—shoot emergence; PB—pistillate budding; PFB—pistillate flower blooming; †Followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P = 0.05 among
the MSLs by LSD test; ‡Comparison of summer vs spring within each growth period at P = 0.05 by T-test.
Table 2. Effect of season (temperature) on the development of MSLs under 9.5 h·d–1 photoperiod.
Duration (d SD) Daily mean temp in the period (°C)
Growth period Spring Summer Spring Summer
DA of high
temperature (%)
SE-PB 39 0.4 21 1.8 23 29 47
SE-PFB 59 3.5 38 3.1 24 30 35
PB-PFB 19 2.4 17 1.9 24 31 12
SE—Shoot emergence; PB—Pistillate budding; PFB—Pistillate flo wer blooming; DA—Devel opmental acceleration.
F. H. Liu et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 111-116
Copyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/AS/
113
sponse indices (TRI) over 3. GS15-8 and SS370 were
not very sensitive to season change, the TRIs were 2.5 or
below. GSA-2 and GS14-4 showed moderate sensitivity
to season change (Table 3).
3.3. Short Photoperiod Accelerates the
Development of Ramie MSLs Mainly in
the Reproductive Growth Periods
The influences of photoperiods on the development of
MSLs were studied by growing the MSLs under differ-
ent photoperiods. It was found that shorter photoperiod
evidently accelerated the development rates of the MSLs,
especially promoting the reproductive development and
shortening the reproductive growth duration (Table 4).
Under photoperiods of 9.5 - 12.5 h·d–1, the development
promotion effect (DA%) increased as the photoperiod
shortened. Besides, the development acceleration of a
short photoperiod was much greater in the high tem-
perature season (summer) than in the low temperature
season (spring) (Table 4). The results testified a quite
high sensitivity to photoperiod of the MSLs and they
developed more quickly under shorter photoperiod.
In the summer, the MSLs grew 37-59 days from shoot
emergence to pistillate budding under the natural condi-
tions (the controls), while under the short photoperiods
(9.5 - 11 h·d–1), the MSLs grew only 18 - 23 days before
pistillate budding. The MSLs shortened their basic
vegetative growth period and started their reproductive
growth earlier under the short photoperiod. Flower bud-
ding acceleration under a short photoperiod can be used
to scale the photoperiod sensitivity of a plant. The
greater the acceleration, the higher the photoperiod sen-
sitivity was. If the acceleration of 60% is taken as a cri-
terion for dividing the photoperiod sensitivity of the
MSLs, then GS13-942 and SS37 0 are highly sensitive to
the photoperiod, and the others are less sensitive (Table
5).
3.4. Short Photoperiod in Conjunction with
High Temperature Accelerates the
Development of Ramie MSLs in the
Whole Growth Period
As mentioned above, high temperature (summer treat-
ment) mainly accelerated development in the vegetative
growth stage, while the short photoperiod mainly pro-
moted development in the reproductive growth stage.
Consequently, it is expected that a short photoperiod in
conjunction with a high temperature would accelerate
the MSLs development in the whole growth period, re-
sulting in a reduction of the whole g rowth duratio n. This
was verified by the results in Table 6.
The MSLs were quite highly sensitive to both tem-
perature and photoperiod. They developed faster and had
a shorter whole growth period under the short photope-
riod and high temperature conditions (in the summer),
and vice versa under the long photoperiod and low tem-
perature (in the spring). Therefore, it may assist of hy-
bridization by treating the ramie MSLs with a short
Table 3. Approximate temperature response indices (TRI) of the MSLs under different photoperiods.
TRI under photoper iods
Male sterile line 9.5 h·d–1 11 h·d–1 12.5 h·d–1
Mean
TRI Temperature sen-
sitivity
GS13-942 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.2 High
GS14-1 3.0 3.2 3.1 3.1 High
GSA-2 3.0 2.9 2.9 2.9 Moderate
GS14-4 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.8 Moderate
SS370 2.7 2.5 2.4 2.5 Low
GS15-8 2.7 2.5 2.1 2.4 Low
Table 4. Effect of photoperiods on ramie MSLs development.
Treated in the spring Treated in the summer
Developmental duration (d SD) DA of short photoperiod
(%)† Developmental duration (d SD) DA of short photoperiod
(%)†
Growth
period 9.5 h·d–1 11 h·d–1 12.5 h·d–1 9.5 h·d–1 11 h·d–1 9.5 h·d–1 11 h·d–1 12.5 h·d–1 9.5 h·d–1 11 h·d–1
SE-PB 39 0.4 39 1.041 2.3 3.7 3.7 21 1.821 1.823 2 .1 9.3 8.7
SE-PFB 59 3.5 60 2. 668 2.8 13.3 12.1 38 3.146 2.654 3.0 29.2 14.9
PB-PFB 19 2.4 20 2.027 1.8 27.8 24.7 17 1.925 2.032 2.5 45.9 22.1
†Compared with 12.5 h·d-1 photoperiod; DA—Developmental acceleration; SE—Shoot emergence; PB—Pistillate budding; PFB—Pistillate flower
blooming.
F. H. Liu et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 111-116
Copyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/AS/
114
Table 5. Photoperiod sensitivities and flower budding acceleration (FBA) of ramie MSLs under short photoperiods (treated in
the summer).
Under 9.5 h·d–1
photoperiod Under 11 h·d–1
photoperiod
Male sterile
lines Days from SE to PB
for controls† Days from
SE to PB† FBA(%) Days from
SE to PB† FBA(%)
Mean FBA
(%) Photoperiod
sensitivity
GS13-942 51 3.0 18 1.0 64.7 20 0.6 60.8 62.8 High
SS370 59 3.5 22 0.4 62.7 22 0.4 62.7 62.7 High
GS15-8 45 2.8 22 0.5 51.1 21 0.9 53.3 52.2 Low
GS14-1 38 2.2 20 0.9 47.7 19 1.0 52.6 50.2 Low
GSA-2 37 2.5 20 0.6 45.9 21 0.6 43.2 44.6 Low
GS14-4 37 2.4 23 1.2 37.8 21 0.5 43.2 40.5 Low
SE—shoot eme rgence; PB—pi stil late budding; †Mea n SD
Table 6. Combined effects of high temperature and short photoperiod on development of ramie MSLs.
Growth duration (d SD) DA of Th under photoperiods (% SD)
Growth
period Under SD and Th Under LD and Tl
DA of SD
and Th (%) 9.5 h·d–1 11 h·d–1 12.5 h·d–1
SE-PB 21 1.8 41 2.3 49 47 3.2 46 2.3 43 3.0
SE-PFB 38 3.1 68 2.8 44 35 2.1 23 2.4 21 2.5
PB-PFB 17 1.9 27 1.8 37 12 1.2 – 21 1.5 – 17 1.4
DA—developmental acceleration; SD—short daylight (9.5 h d–1 photoperiod); LD—long daylight (12.5 h d–1); Th—high temperature (i n the sum-
mer); Tl—low temperature (in the spring); SE —shoot emergence; PB—pistillate b ud ding; PFB—pi s ti ll ate flower blooming.
photoperiod in different seasons to facilitate cross com-
binations and avoid of an unexpected pollination. Fur-
thermore, the acceleration effect of a high temperature
on ramie MSLs could be decreased, or even cleared
away by elongated photoperiod (Table 6).
3.5. Types of Photo-Temperature Sensitivity
of Ramie MSLs
MSLs are important parents for ramie heterosis utili-
zation, their characteristics of photo-temperature re-
sponse are therefore important for mating needed cross
combinations. The response type of a plant to photo-
temperature can be determined by the photoperiod and
temperature sensitivities, and the basic vegetative gr-
owth period. Owing to different response to photoperiod
and temperature, the 6 ramie MSLs in this experiment
might be classified into 5 types based on the flower bud-
ding accelerations of short photoperiod and the appro-
ximate temperature response indices (Table 7).
4. DISCUSSION
The photo-temperature responses of a crop are of im-
portance both in theory and practice. Understanding
these characteristics is helpful, on the one hand, to de-
termine the suitable cultivation areas of the crop for get-
ting high and stable yield. On the other hand, it is good
to adjust the flowering time of the cross parents for suc-
cessful hybridization, or to stage the cross time of dif-
ferent combinations avoiding of an unexpected pollina-
tion.
Ramie cultivars are usually a short-day crop. It has
been determined that short photoperiod treatment pro-
motes the development of the ordinary ramie varieties
and makes them flower earlier [3,11]. It takes fewer days
of short photoperiod to induce ramie flowering under the
high temperature seasons (in the summer or early au-
tumn) than under the low temperature seasons (in the
spring or early summer) [3]. While different responses of
wild species in genus Boehmeria to short photoperiod
were observed by Pan et al. [12]. However, it is still nec-
essary to have a systematic study of the photo-tempera-
ture responses for ramie varieties, especially for ramie
MSLs. In our experiment, we confirmed that the tested
ramie MSLs are sensitive to the temperature and photo-
period by growing the MSLs under different photo-
periods and different season (temperature) conditions.
The short photoperiod and high temperature (in the
summer) can evidently decrease the growth period and
make the MSLs flower earlier. But the acceleration ef-
fect of high temperature can be minimized, or even
cleared away by long photoperiod.
The effects of photoperiod and temperature on ramie
development are complex. In this experiment, due to
lack of the staminate flowers in some of the tested MSLs,
the female reproductive organs were recorded as a coin
F. H. Liu et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 111-116
Copyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/AS/
115
Table 7. Response type of ramie MSLs to photoperiod-temperature.
Type Re spon se s ensit ivity to photope-
riod-temperature FBA of short photo-
period† Temperature response index‡ Representative MSLs
1 High sensitivity to both photoperiod and
temperature 60% > 3.0 GS13-942
2 Sensitivity high to photoperiod and low
to temperature 60% 2.5 SS370
3 Sensitivity low to photoperiod and high
to temperature < 60% > 3.0 GS14-1
4 Sensitivity low to photoperiod and mod-
erate to temperature < 60% 2.63.0 GS14-4, GSA-2
5 Low sensitivity to both photoperiod and
temperature < 60% 2.5 GS15-8
†Represents the photoperiod sensitivity; ‡Represents the tem perature sensitivity; FBA—Flower budding acceleration.
cident indicator for observation, but the effects of temon
the development of the male reproductive organs of the
MSLs were neglected. In fact, in some experiments it
was observed that the environmental temperature could
change the pollen fertility of some rape male sterile lines
[13,14]. This was considered as a result of th e combined
effect of the environmental temperature and the nutrition
status in the MSLs [14]. In our experiment we also
found a yearly difference in the development of the sta-
minate flower buds in some MSL, and the bigger and
higher plants had somehow better developed staminate
flower buds. Are there interactive effects of the envi-
ronmental temperature and the nutrition status on the
expression of fertility in the ramie MSLs, and on the
temperature-sensitive response? This is a new problem
to approach. Besides temperature and photoperiod, it is
worthwhile to investigate the effects of changes in sun-
light intensity, wavelength and humidity from spring to
summer on the development of ramie MSLs.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The conclusion was derived by summarizing the de-
velopmental response to photoperiod and temperature of
six male sterile lines (MSLs) of ramie in the study. The
MSLs showed different development rates in the repro-
ductive growth stage under the conditions of higher
temperature and short photoperiod, but a stable vegeta-
tive growth duration. On the other hand, higher tem-
perature accelerated vegetative growth, while the short
photoperiod treatment accelerated the reproductive gr-
owth of the MSLs. The short photoperiod treatment
combined with higher temperature obviously accelerated
both the vegetative and reproductive growth of the MSLs .
But the effect of higher temperature decreased, or even
disappeared along with the photoperiod elongation. Five
photo-temperature response types were constituted based
on the flower budding acceleration of short photoperiod
and the approximate temperature response index of the
MSLs. The results would provide guidance for deter-
mining cross combinations, assist with the breeding of
new cultivars and assist with ramie seed production.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (Project No 30360058, Project No 30971825) for financial
support to this study.
REFERENCES
[1] Kaul, M.L.H. (1988) Male sterility in higher plants.
Springer - Verlag Berlin Heidel be rg, New York, 221-232.
[2] Qin, T.C. (1993) Crop breeding by using male sterility.
Chinese Agricultural Press, Beijing.
[3] Li, Z.D. (1989) Ramie physiology, bio-chemistry, genet-
ics and breeding. Chinese Agricultural Press, Beijing,
158-167.
[4] Liang, X.N., Zhang, S.W. and Xiao., D.X. (1998) Studies
on ramie parthenogenesis and pure line creation. Agri-
cultural Modernization Research, 19, 91-94.
[5] Liu, F.H. and Liang, X.N. (2000) Preliminary study on
biochemical and physiological traits of ramie ma le sterile
lines. Chinas Fiber Crops, 22, 16-20.
[6] Song, J., Zhang, Z.H. and Pan, G.T. (2007) Physiological
and biochemical characteristics in ramie male sterile
lines. Journal of Tropical and Subtropical Botany, 15,
423-428.
[7] Zhang, Z.H., Wei, G., Xu, J.J., Zhao, S.Y., Yang, Y. and
Qiu, Y.B. (2003) Report on breeding of a new hybrid
ramie combination ‘Chuanzhu 8’ with good quality and
high yield. China's Fiber and Products, 25, 168-171.
[8] Zhang, Z.H., Wei, G., Yang, Y. and Shu, Z.X. (2005)
Breeding and utilization of ramie male sterility line
‘C26’”. Plant Fibers and Products, 27, 109-112.
[9] Diao, C.Q., (1994) Cultivation of field crops (Southern
version). Chinese Agricultural Press, Beijing, 47-57.
[10] Deng, L.Q. (1987) Study on photo-temperature responses
of kenaf varieties. Scientia A gricultura Sinica, 20, 56-62.
[11] Li, Z.D. (1980) The theory and techniques of fiber crops.
Shanghai Science and Technology Press, Shanghai,
99-110.
[12] Pan, Q.H., Lai, Z.J. and Ouyang, A.P. (2005) Preliminary
study on the day-length and temperature characteristics
of wild-type ramie. China's Fiber and Products, 27,
286-291.
[13] Yang, G.S. and Fu, T.D. (1987) Effect of environments on
F. H. Liu et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 111-116
Copyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/AS/
116
rape cytoplasmic male sterile lines. China’s Oil Crops, 3,
15-19.
[14] Li, J.N., Tang, Z.L. and Chen, L. (1995) Effects of tem-
perature on the fertility change stage and critical pa-
rameters of rape male sterile line with Polima cytoplasm.
Journal of Southwest Agricultural University, 17, 391-
394.