Growth and Development of Horticultural Crops (1+1)

Introduction

• The discovery of gibberellins is quite fascinating and dates back to about the same period when auxins were discovered, but it was only after 1950s they came into prominence.
  
• A young Japanese scientist Kurosawa had been trying to find out why the rice seedlings infected by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi (asexual stage Fusarium monoliforme) grew taller and turned very thin and pale.
  
• These are the symptoms of ‘Backanae disease’ (meaning foolish) which is known to Japanese for over a century.
  
• In 1926, he succeeded in obtaining a filtered extract of this fungus which could cause symptoms of the Backanae disease in healthy rice seedlings.
  
• In 1935, Yabuta isolated the active substance which was quite heat stable and gave it the name gibberellin.