LET’S STUDY BIOLOGY TOGETHER

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Oleh
PN SITI ROHANA BINTI MAN
SMK SULTAN BADLISHAH, KULIM
2020
1. State what plant hormones are
2. Give some examples of plant hormones
3. Infer the effects of auxins on growth responses
4. Explain the role of auxins in tropism
5. State the uses of hormones in agriculture
1. Plant hormones or phytohormones are chemical substances
produced in small quantities by certain parts of the plants
and transported to other parts to regulate and coordinate
plant growth(e.g. seed germination and development of
fruits)
2. Plant hormones also regulate the various responses in
plants.
3. Since the target cells are located some distance away, the
hormones are transported through diffusion or active
transport (through the xylem and phloem).
4. There are five major categories of plant hormones: auxin,
ethylene, gibberellin, cytokinin and abscisic acid that
interact with each other in many aspects of growth and
development. These interactions may be synergistic or
antagonistic.
1. Plants response to stimuli by growing towards or away
from the direction of the stimuli.
2. Plants growth responses are controlled by plant
hormone known as auxin which is produced in the
apical meristem or zone of cell division of all plants.
3. In plant shoot, auxin diffuses downward to promote
growth by inducing the cell elongation in the zone of
elongation.
4. Generally, auxin gives different effects on shoots and
roots (depends on its concentration)
i. Shoot growth is stimulated by high auxin level and
inhibited by lower concentration.
ii. Root growth is stimulated by lower level of auxin
that inhibit shoot growth.
5. Types of auxins:
(a) Natural auxins
e.g Indol acetic acid (IAA)
produced by the growing parts of
plant such as the shoots, root tips,
young leaves, young fruits and
embryo in seedlings.
(b) Synthetic auxins
e.g 2-4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid
and 2-4-5 trichlorophenoxyacetic acid.
Experiment
1: To show
that auxins
is produced
at the tip of
coleoptiles
and diffuse
downwards
to affect the
growth
Question: The experiment is carried out in the dark. Why?
Answer : To ensure that the coleoptile grow up straight. If the experiment is carried out in the
presence of light, the unilateral light source may cause the bending of the coleoptiles.

Graph shows the response of a weed

to increasing concentrations of auxin.

[IAA] SHOOTS ROOTS

HIGH STIMULATE INHIBIT

INHIBIT STIMULATE
LOW
Q1: State two differences between the responses by the roots and the shoots.
Root growth is stimulated when the auxin concentrations are low (10-6_10-2
ppm), inhibited when auxin levels are higher (10-2 _101 ppm) and totally
retarded at the levels above 101ppm. Shoot growth is stimulated when auxin
levels are high (10-4_102 ppm), inhibited when auxin levels are higher (102_103
ppm) and totally retarded at the levels above 103 ppm.

Q2: What is the optimal auxin concentration for maximum shoot growth?
Between 101 to 102 ppm

Q3: What would happen to shoot growth when the auxin concentration is
higher than 50 ppm (parts per million)?
Shoot growth is still enhanced at the auxin levels between 50 and 1000 ppm
because auxin only retards growth totally at the levels above 1000ppm.
Q4: Using the information from the graph, explain why auxins could be used as
weed killer.
If auxin concentration is above 1ppm, root growth will be retarded. If roots do
not develop, growth of the whole plant is inhibited. If the concentration is
above 1000 ppm, both shoots and roots will not grow and the plant definitely
would die.

Q5: It is already known that high concentrations of auxin is toxic to

dicotyledonous plants but does not affect the monocots. Would you suggest to
a farmer to use auxin as weed killer in his tomato garden and corn field?
The farmer should not use auxin as weedkiller in his tomato garden because
tomato plants are the dicots and high concentration of auxin would not only
kill the weeds but the tomato plants as well. On the other hand, he could
use auxin as weed killer in his corn field since auxin would not affect the
corn plants which are the monocots.
 Growth response in plants (movement) Stimulus?
direction of movement

if the movement is towards the stimulus if the movement is away from the stimulus
Examples:

– Positive phototropism - Negative geotropism in

in shoots is the shoots is the situation
situation where shoots where shoots grow
grow towards light. against the force of
– Positive geotropism in gravity.
roots is the situation - Negative phototropism in
where roots grow roots is the situation
towards the force of where roots grow
gravity. against light.
• Phototropism is the growth movement of a plant part or structure in response to light.
• Auxin is synthesised uniformly at the shoot tip. It tends to move away from the light source
and accumulates on the shaded side.
• As it diffuses into the zone of elongation of the shaded side, the cells on this side grow
more quickly than the cells on the light side that made the shoot tip or coleoptile to bend
and grow towards light. This is referred to positive phototropism.
1) Geotropism is the growth of a plant part or structure in response to
gravity.
2) Gravity is the main factor that affects the distribution of auxin in the
apical meristems
3) In the radicle (young root), high auxin concentration would inhibit
growth, resulting in the lower side growing more slowly than the
upper side. The radicle thus grows downwards, showing positive
geotropism.
4) In the plumule (young shoot), higher auxin concentration in the
lower side stimulates rapid growth in this region, resulting in the
lower side growing more quickly than the upper side. The plumule
thus grows upwards, showing negative geotropism.
In some plants e.g. pineapple and banana, the ovary normally produces large amount of
auxin, even without being fertilised. This results in the development of seedless fruits.
What is this phenomenon called? Answer: Parthenocarpy.
• Plant hormones
could be
extracted or
synthesised.
They are used
widely in
various
agricultural
activities.
1) Hormone AUXIN
Effect
1. Promotes the growth of adventitious root.
2.A synthetic auxin, 2,4-D promotes distorted
growth of small dicotyledonous plant.
3.Promotes fruits partenocarpy
4.Inhibits growth of lateral buds (the
phenomenon is known as apical dominance)
Uses
 Used to induce rooting in stem cutting for vegetative propagation.
 Used as herbicides to kill broad leave weeds in cereal crops plantation.
 Sprayed on unfertilized flower to induce the formation of seedless fruits
e.g seedless watermelon, grapes
 Used to suppress buds growth of potato etc. shipment
 Promotes branching/bushy plant by cutting off the shoot region (auxin
removed)
2) Hormone Gibberellins

Effect Uses
1.Stimulate cell  Used to abolish
division and genetic dwarfism
cell elongation  Used with auxin to
2.Induce fruits promote a bigger
partenocarpy partenocarpy fruits
3.Induce  Sprayed on plant to
flowering promote flowering
3) Hormone Cytokinins

Effect Uses
1. Together with  Used in tissue culture
auxin, to promote growth of
cytokinins callus to form buds and
promote mitosis roots
and
differentiation
2. Delay leaf  Used to maintain the
senescence and freshness of vegetable
abscission and flower cutting
4) Hormone Abscisic Acid

Effect Uses
1. Inhibit  Sprayed onto seeds to retard
germination plant growth in winter
and growth
2. Induce buds  Used to inhibit growing apex
dormancy into a dormant buds
3. Induce the  Sprayed onto flower cutting to
stomatal maintain the freshness through
closing the water loss prevention.
5) Hormone Ethylene
Effect Uses
1. A gas type  Used to faster
of hormone fruit ripening
2. Synthesised eg.banana
during fruit  
maturation
3. Promotes
fruit ripening