ABSTRACT
Study of bud groups during flowering showed that all had been initiated to flower, but many failed to produce blossoms. Since growth chamber and laboratory tests showed that some growth regulators could release inhibited buds and produce additional flowers, field testing of regulators was started. One effect that appeared more promising was senescence delay caused by chemicals applied “postbloom”, i.e., at the end of the first flowering period. Effects of growth regulators on quality characteristics are also important because flax, soybeans, and sunflowers are grown, in part, for their oil. The multigenic regulation of seed yield, the compensation that causes one yield component to decline whenever another is increased, and the high likelihood of detrimental side effects from chemical treatments combine to make yield increase through growth-regulator treatment very difficult to obtain. One growth-regulator effect that was observed consistently throughout all years of the program was increased oil content of seeds from plants treated with morphactins, particularly Chlorflurenol.
