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. 1973 May;51(5):949–953. doi: 10.1104/pp.51.5.949

Ethylene, a Regulator of Young Fruit Abscission 1,2

John A Lipe a,3, Page W Morgan a
PMCID: PMC366380  PMID: 16658444

Abstract

In an earlier study we reported that detached cotton flowers produced sufficient ethylene before the period of natural abscission to suggest that ethylene might be a natural regulator of young fruit abscission. The present report explores this probability further. Intact cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fruits produced ethylene at rates as high as 36 μl ethylene/kg fresh wt·hr during the 2 days before they abscised. Direct measurements of ethylene in gas samples withdrawn from fruits indicated that production of 1 μl ethylene/kg fresh wt·hr is equivalent to an internal concentration of approximately 0.1 μl/l. Fumigation of fruiting cotton plants with only 0.5 μl/l caused 100% abscission of young fruits and floral buds within 2 days. This correlated with the estimated endogenous levels of ethylene. Reduced pressure, which reduced the internal levels of ethylene, delayed abscission of young fruits and leaves, a result which supports our conclusion from this study— that ethylene is one of the regulators of young fruit abscission in cotton.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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