ABSTRACT
The diurnal variation in soluble oligosaccharide content of developing cotton fibers is of interest since it is related to the presence of acid labile oligomers associated with cell wall biosynthesis. The sucrose, raffinose, stachyose and verbascose content of developing Maxxa and Pima S-7 has been determined and expressed on a g/mg fiber basis. The range of values of sucrose and raffinose is much wider for Maxxa than for Pima S-7 during the 24-hr period suggesting that the metabolism of Pima S-7 is more tightly regulated than Maxxa. Although the ranges were different for both species, the total values of sucrose and raffinose observed for the 24-hr period were almost identical. This suggests that the amount of soluble sugars, which can be incorporated into a unit mass of fiber in a 24-hr period, may be relatively constant. This relationship is the subject of ongoing investigation.
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