African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12487

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.
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 26 October 2005
  •  Published: 16 January 2006

Abstract

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.

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