Influence of plant growth regulators on strawberry: A review

Abstract

Strawberry (Fragaria spp.); genus Fragaria; family Rosaceae and sub –family Rosaceae (Staudt, 1989) is native to Europe, Asia and some other to North and South America and has 20 recognized species. The cultivated strawberry is a hybrid plant crossed between two species, Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana. The botanical name of the common cultivated strawberry is Fragaria × ananassa. Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is commercially grown in temperate regions, but there are varieties, that can be cultivated in subtropical climate (Suga et al., 2013). The strawberry is an attractive, luscious, tasty, aggregate, nutritious fruit. Plant growth regulators or phytohormones are organic substances produced naturally in higher plants, controlling growth or other physiological functions at a site remote from its place of production and active in minute amounts. 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. The paper reviews the influence of various phytohormones on strawberry growth, development and fruit yield. Plant growth regulators were found to be very effective in increasing the vegetative growth, flowering and yield of berry fruits in temperate, tropical as well as subtropical regions. In most of the studies, high concentration of gibbereliic acid increased vegetative growth and runner production in strawberry whereas cycocel, a growth retardant was very effective in improving fruit quality.