Compounds that modify the physiological processes, growth and/or development of plants are called plant growth regulators (PGRs). Important PGRs include the following:
The discovery of gibberellins can be traced back to nineteenth-century Japan, when excessive seedling elongation and infertility in rice was found to be the result of fungal infection. Because the disease reduced yield, farmers named it bakanae (‘foolish seedling’). Nowadays, the disease is easily prevented by treating rice seeds with fungicide before sowing, but the discovery of gibberellins, initially from the fungus that causes bakanae, has had transformational effects on agriculture.
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