Responsiveness of Three Tayota (Sechium edule) Types to Gibberellic Acid Treatment

Container experiments were conducted in the Dominican Republic to determine the effects of gibberellic acid applications on the `White', `Green', and `Spiny Green' tayota ( Sechium edule ) Dominican types. Young plants (25 cm in length) of the three types were sprayed with aqueous solutions of gibberellic acid at rates 0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 parts per million. A completely randomized design with seven replications was utilized. Plant height and shoot dry weight were determined 30 days after treatment and resulting data was subjected to analysis of variance and regression analysis. Gibberellic acid treatment significantly increased tayota shoot dry weight and stem elongation. Both variables responded with similar patterns to gibberellic acid application. A linear regression (Y = 39.82 + 0.214 X, r 2 0.95) described stem elongation as a function of gibberellic acid rates. Results show that gibberellic acid can be effectively used in either tayota type to promote early stem elongation. From a practical standpoint, due to the climbing nature of Sechium edulis , rapid stem elongation could be instrumental in a more rapid establishment of the crop vines in the trellis system, as well as to provide the crop with an advantage on weeds competing for light during the usually critical early growth stages.