Use of Plant Growth Regulators for Improving Fruit Production in Sub Tropical Crops

Plant growth regulator or phytohormone may be defined as an organic substance produced naturally in plants controlling growth and other functions at a site remote from its place of production in minute quantities. Plant growth regulators include auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, ethylene, growth retardants and growth inhibitors. The production of poor quality fruits is a matter of common experience. It would be therefore worthwhile to improve the yield and quality of fruit crops by foliar application of plant growth regulators. The use of growth regulators has become an important component of agro-technical procedures for most of the cultivated plants and especially for fruit plants. So far in fruit crops, excessive fruit drop can be controlled by the exogenous application of plant growth regulators. The auxin and gibberellins are widely used to control the fruit drop and to improve the quality of fruit. Ontogenic development from fruit set to fruit ripening and final reach to customer, several agents are responsible for elimination of some fruits from fruit set to final maturity. In this review, we focus on the role of plant growth regulators in subtropical fruit production.