FIGURE 1.

Effects of exogenous GA₃ on sex expression and ethylene production in gynoecious cucumber. (A) Sex expression of the flowers on the first 25 nodes of the main stems in gynoecious cucumber plants treated with deionized water (with 0.1% ethanol) (Control) or 1000 ppm GA₃. The black and white circles represent female and male flowers, respectively. Lower nodes without circle indicate the vegetative nodes. (B) The percentage of the nodes with female or male flowers up to the 25th node on the main stems of the Control and GA₃ treatment lines. Values are the means ± SE from six independent plants. (C) Quantification of ethylene released from shoot tips in gynoecious cucumber plants at 7 days after treatment with GA₃ and the Control. Six biological replicates were performed for this experiment. Vertical bars represent the standard errors. The asterisk indicates the significant difference (P < 0.01) between the Control and GA₃ treatment lines by Duncan’s test.