PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS

Plants require light, water, oxygen, minerals, and other nutrients to grow and flourish. Plants rely on particular chemical substances to signal, regulate, and govern their growth in addition to these external requirements. Plant Growth Regulators, also known as Plant Growth Hormones, are a group of hormones that regulate plant growth.

Plant Growth Regulators, commonly known as phytohormones, are classified into several categories. Plant growth regulators are chemical compounds that control all aspects of plant development and growth. Phytohormones and plant growth hormones are some of the other names for it.

Phytohormones are chemical molecules that are manufactured in laboratories or naturally produced by plants. They have a significant impact on physiological processes such as plant growth, development, and mobility.

Plant growth regulators can be divided into two categories based on their actions:

  1. Plant growth regulators
  2.  Inhibitors of plant growth

Plant Growth Regulators: Characteristics

Plants require various chemical components to control their growth and development since they require oxygen, water, sunlight, and nutrients to develop and thrive. Plant Growth Regulators are a class of chemical compounds that are naturally produced by plants.

These are simple organic molecules with a variety of chemical make-ups. Phytohormones, plant growth chemicals, and plant growth hormones are other names for them. They have the capacity to both speed up and slow down the growth of plants.

The features of plant growth hormones, also known as plant growth regulators, are as follows: 

  • Cell differentiation and elongation.
  • Leaves, flowers, and stems are formed.
  • Leaves are wilting.
  • Fruit is ripening.
  • Seed dormancy, for example.

Plant growth hormones are divided into five categories: auxin, gibberellins (GAs), cytokinins, abscisic acid (ABA), and ethylene. In addition to these, there are a variety of natural and manufactured derivative substances that operate as plant growth regulators.

What do the different regulators do?

1. Auxins

  • Expansion and elongation of cells can be influenced.
  • Induce vascular differentiation by stimulating root development.
  • Encourage tropic reactions.
  • Keep your apical dominance 
  • Delay the onset of leaf senescence 
  • Encourage the growth of secondary buds, flowers, and fruits.

2. Cytokinins

  • Affect mitosis 
  • Encourage lateral bud development and leaf extension.
  • Delay the onset of leaf senescence.
  • Encourage the production of chlorophyll.
  • Improve the growth of chloroplasts

3. Gibberellins

  • Encourage stem elongation.
  • Flowering should be encouraged.
  • Initiation of the cone 
  • Encourage the germination of seeds

4. Abscisic acid

  • Control the germination of seeds.
  • Induce the production of storage proteins
  • Adapting to water stress
  • Maintains the dormancy of the buds and seeds 
  • Elongation of cells is slowed.
  • Close the stomatal pores in a controlled manner (reducing transpiration)
  • Modulate leaf senescence and abscission.
  • Contribute to the maturity of seed

5. Ethylene 

  • Promotes the development of roots and shoots.
  • This gas stimulates fruit ripening, senescence, and leaf abscission when combined with other phytohormones.

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