Page 262 - Biology_F5
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Coordination and Irritability

           used in removing dicotyledonous weeds in  Application of synthetic gibberellins in
           cereal (monocotyledonus) crops.  Benzoic  crop production
           acids are also used as a powerful weed     The synthetic gibberellins have the following
           killer, thus they are used against deep-   roles in plants:
           rooted weeds.                              (a) They promote fruit setting.
                                                      (b) They enhance malting in brewing
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           (d) Prevent sprouting in potatoes             industries.
           Phenoxyacetic acid is used to prevent      (c) They reverse genetic dwarfism.
           sprouting in potatoes. It is also used to   (d) They break seed dormancy.
           prevent premature falling of fruits and
           leaves in crop plants.                     (e) They increase plants’ resistance to pests
                                                         and diseases.

           Gibberellins
           Gibberellins,  such as Gibberellic  Acid   Cytokinins
           (GA) include a wide range of chemicals     Cytokinins (CKs) are a group of chemicals
           that are produced naturally within plants.   that  influence  cell  division  and  shoot
           Like auxins, which can be produced in      formation in plants. In the past, when the
           industry, gibberellins are also commercially   cytokinins were first isolated from yeast
           produced from  fungal culture.  They       cells they were called ‘kinins’. They are
           perform the following role in plants:      found mostly in regions of rapid cell
           (a) They stimulate  stem elongation  and   division, particularly in seeds and fruits,
                                                      where embryos develop. They perform the
               pollen tube growth.                    following roles in plants:

           (b) They influence cell division.          (a) They promote  cell  division in the
           (c) They promote flowering, seed germination   presence of auxins.
               and differentiation after germination.  (b) They  induce  delayed  senescence  of
           (d) They are important for seed germination,   leaves and fruits.
               as they effect enzyme production that   (c) They are responsible for mediating
               mobilises food production needed for      transportation of auxins throughout the
               growing new cells.  This is done by       plant and affecting internodal length and
               modulating chromosomal transcription      growth.
               in the growing seedling.               (d) They promote lateral bud growth.

           (e) They promote bolting in rosette plants,   (e) They counteract the apical dominance
               hence increasing inter nodal lengths.     induced by auxins.
           (f)  They promote cell division and  (f)  They break seed and bud dormancy at
               elongation in the presence of auxins.     appropriate temperatures.
           (g) They reverse the inhibition  of shoot   Application of synthetic cytokinins in
               growth  and  dormancy  induced  by     crop production
               Abscisic acid.                         Synthetic  cytokinins  have  the  following

           (h) They break seed dormancy.              application in crop production:

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