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Ethylene, a Regulator of Young Fruit Abscission ^1,2

^a Department of Plant Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843

In an earlier study we reported that detached cotton flowers produced sufficient ethylene before the period of natural abscission to suggest that ethylene might be a natural regulator of young fruit abscission. The present report explores this probability further. Intact cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fruits produced ethylene at rates as high as 36 µl ethylene/kg fresh wt·hr during the 2 days before they abscised. Direct measurements of ethylene in gas samples withdrawn from fruits indicated that production of 1 µl ethylene/kg fresh wt·hr is equivalent to an internal concentration of approximately 0.1 µl/l. Fumigation of fruiting cotton plants with only 0.5 µl/l caused 100% abscission of young fruits and floral buds within 2 days. This correlated with the estimated endogenous levels of ethylene. Reduced pressure, which reduced the internal levels of ethylene, delayed abscission of young fruits and leaves, a result which supports our conclusion from this study— that ethylene is one of the regulators of young fruit abscission in cotton.

¹ This research was supported in part by Cotton Incorporated and is a contribution of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.

² Preliminary reports of this study have appeared in: Proc. Beltwide Cotton Production. Res. Conf., p. 47, 1970; Bulletin Southeastern Biol. 17: 52-53, 1970; Proc. Assoc. South. Agr. Workers 68: 197-198, 1971; Plant Physiol. 47: S14, 1971.

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