🌱 Plant Hormones and Their Uses

1⃣ Auxins

Main roles in agriculture and horticulture:

1. Weed killers – selectively kill unwanted plants (weeds) in gardens or fields.

2. Rooting powders – promote root growth in plant cuttings for cloning.

3. Promoting growth in tissue culture – helps small plant tissue samples grow into full plants.

2⃣ Gibberellins

Main roles in agriculture and horticulture:

1. Ending seed dormancy – make seeds germinate earlier than normal.

2. Encouraging flowering – helps plants flower even in unusual conditions.

3. Increasing fruit size – produces larger, more marketable crops.

3⃣ Ethene (Ethylene)

Main role in the food industry:

• Ripening fruit – e.g., bananas are harvested green, transported, then sprayed with ethene to ripen just before sale.

💡 Key point:

• Auxins mainly promote growth and rooting.

• Gibberellins mainly control germination, flowering, and fruit size.

• Ethene mainly controls ripening in fruits.