ISSN 2736-1756
Advanced Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 2006
Available online at http://internationalscholarsjournals.org/journal/ajmr
© 2006 International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
GA3 improves flower yield in some cucurbits treated with lead and mercury
Aisha Saleem Khan1* and Najma Yaqub Chaudhry2
1Punjab University, Botany Department, Pakistan.
2Punjab University, Botany Department, Lahore.
Accepted 26 October, 2005
Abstractt
Present study reveals florigenic effects of growth hormones (i.e. gibberellic acid, GA3) and heavy metals (i.e., Pb(NO3)2 and HgCl2) in Cucumis sativus L. and Momordica charantia L. Applied GA3 at 400 ppm caused precocious flowering, increasing the number of pistillate and staminate flowers in both plants. Application of Pb(NO3) 2 and HgCl2 caused significant delay in flowering, consequently leading to reduction in number of flowers. However, when GA3 was applied with Pb(NO3)2 and HgCl2, there was less decrease in staminate and pistillate flowers, revealing the dominant effect of GA3. It can be concluded that inhibitory effects of heavy metals on flowering were partially restored by phytohormones.
Key words: Flowering, heavy metals, phytohormones.