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Improvement of pistillate flowers yield with GA3 in heavy metals treated plants

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Abstract

GA3 can be beneficial to improve the flowering yield in Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl. and Luffa cylindrica L. (Roem) treated with HgCl2 and \(\hbox{Pb}(\hbox{NO}_{3})_{2}\). This paper reviews the literature on the possible involvement of gibberellins in flower development and suggests that plants under the stress of heavy metals can be treated with GA3 to improve growth parameters, to avoid delay in flowering and likewise quality of fruit can be improved. Applied GA3 (400 mg/l) caused precocious flowering, increasing the number of flowers in the treated plants. All data was compared with control plants grown under similar conditions. Both heavy metals caused significant delay in flowering, consequently leading to reduction in the number of flowers. However, when GA3 was applied with HgCl2 and \(\hbox{Pb}(\hbox{NO}_{3})_{2}\), there was less decrease in staminate and pistillate flowers, revealing the dominant effect of GA3. Current work reveals that inhibitory effects of heavy metals on flowering can be partially restored with GA3 application.

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  1. Botany Department, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan

    Najma Yaqub Chaudhry & Aisha Saleem Khan

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  1. Najma Yaqub Chaudhry
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  2. Aisha Saleem Khan
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Correspondence to Aisha Saleem Khan.

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Chaudhry, N.Y., Khan, A.S. Improvement of pistillate flowers yield with GA3 in heavy metals treated plants. Plant Growth Regul 50, 211–217 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-006-9133-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-006-9133-3

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