The role of plant growth regulators in florida's turfgrass industry

摘要

Plant growth regulators have played an important role in turfgrass management. Since the advent of maleic hydrazide, PGRs have been used with varying degrees of success in nearly all segments of the turfgrass industry. Early on, the use of products such as maleic hydrazide and mefluidide caused severe phytotoxicity to the turfgrass or failed to perform consistently. As such, their usefulness in suppressing shoot growth was limited to rough turf situations such as roadsides and cemeteries. Amidochlor, flurprimidol, and paclobutrazol each had their merits; however, it was trinexapac-ethyl that has revolutionized PGR use in turf. This relatively new PGR exhibits excellent safety while providing foliar suppression equal to none. Additionally, trinexapac-ethyl has been shown to increase turfgrass rooting and improving other plant physiological functions. In recent years, ethophon, paclobutrazol, and gibberellic acid have been evaluated to elucidate their usefulness in fine turf management.