Search Results
To improve the communication skills of students studying horticulture, collaboration between the subject lecturers and an academic skills consultant has led to the inclusion of a writing portfolio into the curriculum of Plant Science and Physiology, a core science component of the Bachelor of Horticultural Science program. The rationale for the portfolio was that, through writing, students would engage more closely with a subject's content and would gain a better understanding of its concepts. The initiatives introduced into the portfolio include the development of nine writing portfolio tasks and model answers, an appropriate grading tool and the integration of the writing tasks into other assessment tools. The focus on writing simultaneously improved students' awareness of the standard and type of writing expected at university, allowed them to develop their written expression, and deepened their understanding of plant science.
Scilla peruviana is a bulbous plant whose distribution extends from South Africa, into Europe and Asia. It belongs to the family Liliaceae (subclass Monocotyledonae). S. peruviana is an attractive floral species with excellent commercial potential, but it does not produce many bulblets and its multiplication rate is very low. Increasing the multiplication rate, and regulation of its growth and development, cannot be achieved without knowledge of its basic patterns of ontogenesis. We studied the annual growth and development of S. peruviana, from initiation until differentiation, giving special attention to cytological changes at the apical meristem. We also investigated the cytophysiological changes occurring in scales during ontogenesis. Two generations of daughter bulbs are present in each mother bulb. Flowering of the mother bulb coincides with vegetative development of the apical meristem of the primary daughter bulb (March-April). During gradual senescence of leaves and roots of the mother bulb, the apical meristem of the primary daughter bulb undergoes a transition from vegetative to prefloral development (June). Intensive flower organ differentiation occurs in the daughter bulb during the mother bulb's rest period (July–August). Initiation of the apical meristem of the secondary daughter bulb occurs within the primary daughter bulb, which is itself enclosed within the mother bulb (August). The development of the apical meristem of a daughter bulb, from its initiation until flowering, thus occurs without interruption and takes ≈20 months. By modifying external factors such as temperature and growth regulators, we can now control time of flowering and increase the multiplication rate of S. peruviana.
The growth cycle of Scilla peruviana L. involved the development of two generations of daughter bulbs enclosed within each mother bulb. Flower initiation of the primary daughter bulb took place in June as the mother bulb apparently entered dormancy. Floral differentiation was complete by late October, by which time the apical meristem of the secondary daughter bulb had developed for 3 months inside the primary daughter bulb. The complete cycle of ontogenesis, from meristem initiation to flowering, occurred without interruption and required 20 months. Small zones of meristematic cells detected at the bases of bulb scales may be the origin of adventitious bulblets in this species. This detailed cytological study enabled the development of an effective commercial forcing program for S. peruviana.