Juvenality in fruit plants

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JUVENALITY IN FRUIT PLANTS

In the development of all woody plants from seed there is a juvenile phase lasting up to 3 to 4 years or even more, during which flowering does not occur and cannot be induced by the normal flower initiating treatments (application of growth regulators) or conditions (water stress). After completion vegetative or juvenile phase of the plant it will proceeds towards the reproductive phase. At this stage, the tree is considered to have attained the adult or sexually mature condition. The length of the juvenile period can be influenced by environmental as well as genetic factors.

              The organs and tissues produced by a young plant, such as a seedling, are often different from those that are produced by the same plant when it is older. This phenomenon is known as juvenality or heteroblasty. For example, young trees will produce longer and thinner branches that grow upright than the branches they will produce as a fully grown tree. In addition, leaves produced during early growth tend to be larger, thinner, and more irregular than leaves on the adult plant. Specimens of juvenile plants may look so completely different from adult plants of the same species. 
              Juvenile cuttings taken from the base of a tree will form roots much more readily than cuttings originating from the mid to upper crown. Flowering close to the base of a tree is absent or less profuse than flowering in the higher branches especially when a young tree first reaches flowering age. When we take the different propagating materials like cutting, budding, grafting etc from one juvenile plant they will bear flower late and in fully established plant it will be quicker.
           During its life cycle the plant undergoes embryonic, juvenile, transitional (between juvenile and mature), and mature (adult) phases of growth and development followed by senescence and death. The juvenile phase in some species has a distinctive morphology of leaves, stems, and other structures which are no longer present when the plant becomes mature. Once the plant reaches maturity, flowering can be induced by appropriate external agents like growth regulators, bahar treatments etc. The change from mature to senescent conditions typically involves the deterioration of many synthetic reactions leading to the death of the plant, thereby completing the cycle.

             Juvenility is defined strictly in terms of ability of seedlings to form flowers. The juvenile phase ends with the attainment of the ability to flower. The appearance of the first flowers on the seedling is the first evidence that the plant is in the adult phase. Any transition period between the 2 phases is qualitatively the same as the adult phase, but there is presently no method for distinguishing such a transition period from the juvenile phase.
                Seedlings which have responded to growth retardant treatments by flowering at an earlier age are considered to have been in a transition period at the time they were treated. 

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