Overview of plant growth regulators
Plant growth regulators are not unfamiliar to people in the agricultural field. Auxin, gibberellic acid, abscisic acid, ethylene, etc. are all well-known plant growth regulators. However, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Plant growth regulators actually have more abundant types and a wide range of functions. Next, we will explore these magical substances in depth.
Auxin regulators
Auxin has a significant promoting effect on plant growth and can improve the yield and quality of crops. **Auxin is a type of hormone naturally produced in plants, which has a significant promoting effect on plant growth and development. Through artificially synthesized auxin plant growth regulators, it can effectively regulate the morphology and physiological processes of plants and improve the yield and quality of crops. This type of regulator is widely used in agriculture and is an indispensable and important tool for modern agricultural production.
Gibberellin regulators
There are currently more than 100 known GA isomers of gibberellin plant growth regulators, usually represented by GAs. Among them, GA3 (920) and GA4+7 are commonly used ingredients. **Gibberellins can break seed dormancy, promote growth, increase fruit setting rate, and induce seedless grapes to grow larger. **This type of regulator can break the dormancy of seeds and promote the growth of seedlings; at the same time, it can inhibit the formation of flower buds, increase fruit setting rate, and even induce parthenocarpy. In addition, gibberellins can also promote the growth of seedless grapes and change the shape of fruits.
Cytokinin regulators
Cytokinin plant growth regulators, with ZT, BA, CPPU and TDZ as main ingredients, have multiple biological activities. **Cytokinins significantly promote fruit setting, prevent fruit drop, and can regulate fruit shape, promote lateral bud germination and fruit enlargement. **They can significantly promote fruit setting, effectively prevent fruit drop, and can also regulate fruit shape to make the fruit more symmetrical. In addition, cytokinin regulators can also promote the germination of lateral buds, stimulate fruit enlargement, and achieve the purpose of fruit thinning. More importantly, it can delay leaf aging, induce bud differentiation, and provide all-round regulation for plant growth and development.
Ethylene generators and ethylene inhibitors
Ethylene generators can promote fruit ripening and coloring, delay flowering, and improve cold resistance. **Ethylene generators, such as ethephon, can stimulate plants to produce ethylene, thereby promoting fruit ripening and aging.
Ethylene inhibitors, such as cyanogen, can inhibit the action of ethylene and delay fruit ripening and aging. By using these ethylene generators and inhibitors rationally, we can achieve precise regulation of plant growth and fruit ripening.
Functions of ethylene generators
Ethylene generators play an important role in plant growth. They can not only inhibit vegetative growth, promote the germination of lateral buds, but also help the formation of flower buds. In addition, ethylene generators can also assist mechanical harvesting, promote fruit ripening and coloring, thin out flowers and fruits, delay flowering, improve plant cold resistance, and even induce plant dormancy.
Functions of ethylene inhibitors
Ethylene inhibitors delay fruit ripening by blocking the synthesis of ethylene precursor ACC. **The mechanism of action of ethylene inhibitors is to inhibit the activity of aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid synthase, thereby blocking the synthesis of ethylene synthesis precursor ACC. In this way, ethylene inhibitors can effectively inhibit the occurrence of ethylene.
Effect of Abscisic Acid
Abscisic acid promotes fruit ripening, improves coloring, and improves crop quality and stress resistance. **There is an antagonistic effect between abscisic acid and gibberellin (GA), which jointly regulate the growth and development of plants. Abscisic acid plays an important role in plant physiological processes and is widely used, mainly including promoting fruit ripening, improving fruit coloring, improving the quality of crops, and enhancing crop stress resistance.
Growth retardants and growth inhibitors
Growth retardants and growth inhibitors are two important substances in plant growth regulators. They affect the growth process of plants to achieve the purpose of regulating plant growth rate and morphology. This type of substance is widely used in agricultural production and has significant effects on increasing crop yield, improving quality, and enhancing stress resistance.
Uses of growth retardants
Retardants inhibit the growth of new shoots, increase fruit setting rate and fruit hardness, and increase storage resistance. **After growth retardants take effect in plants, they can effectively inhibit the division and elongation of apical meristem cells, thereby slowing down the growth rate of new shoots. This inhibitory effect is temporary and can be offset by the plant hormone GA. The main effect of growth retardants is to inhibit excessive growth of new shoots, promote the differentiation and formation of flower buds, increase the fruit setting rate, and delay the ripening time of fruits. In addition, it can also increase the hardness of fruits and improve storage resistance.
Uses of growth inhibitors
Growth inhibitors permanently inhibit the growth of new shoots, enhance branching, and promote the formation of flower buds. **Growth inhibitors are divided into two categories: natural extraction and artificial synthesis. They can completely inhibit the growth of the top of new shoots, and this inhibitory effect is permanent and will not be reversed by the plant hormone GA. Growth inhibitors can not only effectively inhibit the growth of branches, but also open the angle of branches and promote the formation of flower buds. In addition, it can increase the number of branches, dwarf the tree, reduce pre-harvest fruit drop, and promote the ripening of fruits.
Other types of regulators
In the field of plant growth regulation, in addition to growth inhibitors, there are many other types of plant growth regulators. These substances each have their own unique functions and application scenarios, and together provide all-round regulation for plant growth and development.
A variety of regulators promote different physiological processes, enhance plant resistance, and achieve flower and fruit preservation. Auxin regulators such as 2,4-D, naphthylacetic acid, indoleacetic acid, and indolebutyric acid all show varying degrees of ability to promote the formation of adventitious roots in cuttings. Plant growth regulators such as gibberellins and cytokinins can induce enhanced hydrolytic enzyme activity after treating seeds, thereby accelerating seed germination. In addition, auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, and brassinolide all have the effect of promoting cell elongation.
These plant growth regulators can also regulate and control the formation of fruit stalk abscission layers, help prevent organ shedding, and thus achieve the goal of flower and fruit preservation. When melon plants are in the “bisexual period”, spraying ethephon can inhibit the development of stamens and promote the development of pistils, thereby transforming male flowers into female flowers.
In addition, regulators such as chlormequat, abscisic acid and paclobutrazol can improve the drought resistance of grapes. They can also shorten the internodes of grapes, thicken branches, make buds fuller, and increase storage nutrients, thereby improving the cold resistance of roots and branch buds.
