Influence of prohexadione-calcium on temperate fruit crops – A Review

Abstract

Plant growth retardants have great potential to maintain a balance between vegetative and reproductive growth of the plants. Prohexadione-calcium is reported as a novel plant growth retardant that inhibits late stages of gibberellins (GAs) biosynthesis in plants. It is emerged as one of an important management tool that an orchardist has available to control vegetative growth in plants and can enhance flowering and fruit quality. Currently, prohexadione-calcium is considered as a reduced risk compound, since it exhibits negligible toxicological effects and has been reported to degrade in higher plants with a halflife of a few weeks and in soil with a halflife of less than a week. The available literature on the effect of prohexadionecalcium on vegetative growth, fruit set, fruit yield, fruit quality and return bloom have been reviewed in this paper.