I want to do a petiole girdling experiment on tomato seedlings. However, I couldn't find any clear protocol to perform girdling on such young tissue. The phloem of tomato petioles also seems to lie quite deep and close to the xylem (based on http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost/tomato/Leaves/leafanat.html), so I don't know how to specifically kill the phloem without touching the xylem. Which method (cutting, chemical, steam or hot wax collar) should I use? How do I do it? How can I check if the girdling is successful or not?
Please have a look at this link for insight.
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep08414
Thank you. I did read this article, but they don't provide very clear information regarding the girdling method, such as steam temperature, duration and how to confirm the success of girdling process.
You should be able to get the MM as in https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC366267/ , or doit yourself by spares but the experimental phloem closure must be assessed by testing transport. Heat girdling can be done by a constantan wire connected to a 9V battery for some second. The wire can be coiled on a small ribbon of paper around the petiole. when powered you can wait still some burning appears on paper and immediately stop. Trials with a thermocouple at the place of the petiole are suggested
Thank you very much for your answer, sir Bongi. I read the article you kindly provided, but was a little confused since this article seems to be about inhibiting phloem transport with cold temperature on the petiole, not entirely cutting off the phloem with girdling. As inferred from this article, the way to check phloem transport is by pulse labeling using 14CO2. Is this method also the only way to confirm the success of the girdling process? If that is the case I am afraid we don't have the required equipment to do it here.
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