Question:
Gibberellins were first discovered in Japan when rice plants were suffering from balance (the foolish seedling disease) caused by a fungus Gibberellafujikuroi.
a. Give two functions of this phytohormone.
b. Which property of Gibberellin caused foolish seedling disease in rice?
Solution:
(a) Gibberellins cause fruits to elongate and improve in its shape. It is also responsible to delay senescence. Spraying sugarcane crop with gibberellins increases the length of the stem, thus increasing the sugar production that increases the yield by almost 20 tonnes per acre.
(b) Elongation of internodes is the property of gibberellin.