Factors that control translocation
a) Light and Darkness:
- light favors greater movement of organic solutes towards shoot apex and darkness favors the opposite.
- Interestingly, most of the glucose synthesized by leaves during the day is stored as starch and the same is converted into sucrose at nights and transported out of the leaves.
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b) Temperature:
- if the temperature is increased, the rate of translocation also increases. However very high temperature is fatal.
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c) Effect of Phytohormones:
- Growth promoting hormones like indole acetic acid , Gibberellins and cytokinin are found to accelerate the rate of translocation.
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d) Effect of minerals:
- boron has been found to facilitate the movement of sucrose.
- The absence of boron reduces the rate of translocation significantly.
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e) Effect of Concentration Gradient:
- Steeper the gradient, greater is the rate of translocation and vice versa