Effect of plant growth regulators on fruit crops

Abstract

The plant hormones are extremely important agent in the integration of developmental activities. Environmental factors often exert inductive effects by evoking changes in hormones in metabolism and distribution within the plant. Apart from it, they also regulate expression of intrinsic genetic potential of plants. Control of genetic expression has been demonstrated for the phytohormones at both transcriptional and translational levels. Also, hormones receptors and binding proteins have been identified on membrane surface that are specific for some hormones.The use of growth regulators has become an important component of agro-technical procedures for most of the cultivated plants and especially for fruit plants. So far in fruit crops, excessive fruit drop can be controlled by the exogenous application of plant growth regulators. The auxin and gibberellins are widely used to control the fruit drop and to improve the quality of fruit. Ontogenic development from fruit set to fruit ripening and final reach to customer, several agents are responsible for elimination of some fruits from fruit set to final maturity. In this review, we focus on the major functions of plant growth regulators in fruit production.