ABSTRACT
The carrot seedling develops its shoot through epigeal germination and thus initially establishes a shoot with cotyledonary leaves. Dry matter distribution and assimilate partitioning between shoot and storage root of carrots can be reasonably described in terms of competition between sinks for assimilate based on their relative activities. If the strength of sinks to attract assimilate is an important determinant of assimilate partitioning, it is necessary to describe and understand the contributing processes. Effects of plant size can be overcome by examining the relationship between the logarithms of organ weights—historically termed the allometric ratio. Carrot varieties provide a wide range of root shapes and shoot to storage root ratios at maturity. Dry matter distribution between shoot and storage root is altered as a result of growth in different environments. As with environmental factors, many reports on applied growth regulators use shoot to storage root ratio to evaluate their effects on dry matter distribution.
