ABSTRACT
Tobacco producers over the years have found that removal of terminal buds along with removal or control of axillary buds improves cured leaf yield and quality. Topping stimulates the growth and development of suckers so that many of the economic gains and physiological effects of topping are lost if suckers are allowed to grow and develop. Maleic hydrazide (MH), a systemic inhibitor, is the most widely used growth regulator on tobacco. The fatty alcohol type contact agents are usually used in the United States and several other countries on flue-cured tobacco along with MH, but the contacts are also used alone in some countries. Sucker control chemicals may modify cured leaf quality and remain as chemical residues on cured leaf so they may affect smoke properties as well. Removal of terminal buds — called topping — causes an interruption in apical dominance which allows rapid development of lateral or axillary buds.
