Attractive appearance is highly desirable for fresh market red-skinned potatoes. Red potatoes derive their skin color from anthocyanins. Some growers attempt to enhance red potato skin color by treating vines with the synthetic auxin 2,4-D. In this study, 2,4-D was applied twice at early bloom stage to ‘Red Norland’ potatoes and tubers were harvested weekly until plants senesced. 2,4-D rapidly increased anthocyanin quantity and altered anthocyanin composition. Average tuber mass at the final harvest was less for the 2,4-D-treatment than untreated controls. Elevated anthocyanin content resulting from 2,4-D persisted through 3 months storage. 2,4-D-treated potatoes did not differ from untreated controls in the number and depth of red pigmented cells in the phellem. Thus, changes in periderm cell division and expansion may not contribute to the 2,4-D response of ‘Red Norland’. Instead, the data suggest that 2,4-D application initiated a rapid change in anthocyanin accumulation that persisted into storage.

中文翻译：

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2,4-D和马铃薯（Solanum tuberosum L.）块茎年龄对Red Norland皮肤和果胶解剖结构花青素含量的影响

对于新鲜市场的红皮土豆，极具吸引力的外观是非常理想的。红土豆从花色苷中提取出肤色。一些种植者试图通过用合成的生长素2,4-D处理葡萄藤来增强红马铃薯的肤色。在这项研究中，在“红色诺兰”马铃薯上，在开花初期将2，4-D施用两次，每周收获块茎直到植物衰老。2,4-D迅速增加了花色苷的数量，并改变了花色苷的组成。2,4-D处理的最终收成的平均块茎质量小于未处理的对照。2，4-D导致的花色苷含量升高，持续存储了3个月。2,4-D处理的马铃薯与未处理的对照相比，在胶团中红色色素细胞的数量和深度没有差异。因此，皮层细胞分裂和扩增的变化可能不会导致2，“ Red Norland”的4-D响应。取而代之的是，数据表明2，4-D的使用引发了花青素积累的快速变化，并持续存储。