Introduction

Juvenility is the physiological stage of plant, which shows the following characteristics during juvenile phase:

• The plant is capable of exponential growth increase in size due to rapid elongation of cell
• Flowering cannot be readily induced, many species or even the deciduous plants remain in semi-evergreen nature
• Some plants develop characteristics morphological forms of leaves, stems, thorns etc while others do not, yet have clearly defined juvenile phase. Ber and citrus plants have long and more thorns at this stage
• Plants are easier to propagate if cuttings and layering are taken at this stage, there is ease of rooting of juvenile parts because of more concentration of auxin.

Long juvenile phase means reduced outputs from the trees affecting the income of growers

• It is imperative to make this phase shorten as possible especially in seedling trees
• The juvenile period can be reduced by increasing the growth rate of the young seedlings, because a minimum size, leaf number, nodes and height must be attained to reach the adult state
• Judicious application of manure and fertilizers makes the plants to avail nutrients in optimal quantities, which accelerates the growth rate of trees so that they attain full size earlier for flowering
• Application of irrigation during long spell of drought enhances vegetative growth of trees, which is essential to maintain vigor, provide leaf area, and develop new bearing surface.