Processes influencing floral initiation and bloom: the role of phytohormones in a conceptual flowering model.
Davenport T. L.
Author Affiliation: University of Florida, Tropical Research and Education Center, 18905 SW 280 Street, Homestead, FL 33031, USA.
HortTechnology 10 : 733-739
Abstract : The reproductive phenologies of temperate fruit tree species are briefly introduced and compared to the reproductive phenologies of 3 tropical and subtropical fruit tree species. The impact of leaf and fruit development and the growth regulators they may produce on the reproductive or vegetative fate of buds on apple spurs is used as a model to discuss temperate fruit flowering. In contrast, conceptual models of citrus, mango and Litchi flowering are described which propose physiological mechanisms for both flowering and vegetative flushing in trees grown in subtropical and tropical environments. Possible roles for auxins and cytokinins in shoot initiation and for gibberellins and a putative florigenic promoter in induction are discussed as they relate to the physiology of flowering and vegetative flushing of tropical species. Successful application of these conceptual flowering models through the use of growth regulators and other horticultural management techniques to control flowering of citrus, mangoes and Litchi is described.