Question

Plant hormones: how do plant hormones affect plant growth and development? seeds do not usually sprout in the winter—how do they know when to germinate? grocery stores need to have ripe, unbruised produce to sell to the public, but often this produce is packed weeks ahead of time and shipped hundreds of miles to get to the store. how does it ripen after harvest? there are several different plant hormones that help to orchestrate plant growth, development, ripening, and responses to various environmental stimuli.

Answer 1

The growth of plants is regulated by plant hormones. Some of the major hormones include; auxins, gibberellins, ethylene, abscisic acid, and cytokinin. Abscisic acid is a stress hormone that inhibits the growth of seeds during the scarcity of water such as during winter. Ethylene hormone promotes ripening of fruits. The hormone can exist in gaseous form and therefore if exposed to unripe fruits can induce ripening.  Auxins promote apical growth while gibberellins promote internodal growth  in stems