Application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique on monitoring flower bud differentiation of tulip

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used for observing morphogenesis process in the living specimen situation of tulip flower buds. Through a comparison of different MRI imaging formation technique (longitudinal relaxation-T1WI, transverse relaxation time weighted imaging-T2WI, proton density weighted imaging-PDWI), seeking for an accurate and practical MRI technique to observe tulip bulb and differentiation period of flower bud. The results showed that in the demonstration of the morphological characters as well as morphogenesis process of flower bud differentiation, the T1WI was completely consistent with the results of rough slice, PDWI and T1WI also had obviously higher map quality than the T2WI (P<0.05). It is indicated that the magnetic resonance imaging technique could monitor the development of flower bud differentiation in vivo. (authors)