Effect of Growth Retardant BX-112 on Growth, Floral Initiation, and Endogenous GA Levels in Sorghum

To define the relations between endogenous GA levels and growth and flowering in short-day plant sorghum, growth retardant BX-112 was applied to two sorghum genotypes, wild-type and phytochrome B mutant (phyB-1), which grows faster and flowers earlier than the wild-type. BX-112 and $GA_3$ were applied as a soil drench, and plant height, culm length, and date to floral initiation were investigated. Endogenous GAs contents were measured with GC-MS-SIM. BX-112 treatments inhibited shoot growth in both genotypes and drastically reduced $GA_1$ and $GA_8$ levels. With increasing BX-112 concentrations, $GA_1$ concentrations declined linearly, but caused the accumulation of intermediates from $GA_12$ to $GA_20$. This result implies that $GA_1$ is the major active endogenous GA in shoot elongation in a short day plant sorghum. The inhibition of plant growth in both of wild type and phyB-1 by BX-112 was very similar, while BX-112 effects on floral initiation in two types of plants differed significantly. Floral initiation of phyB-1 was not affected by BX-1l2, but that of wild-type was delayed as BX-1l2 concentration increased. Because BX-112 treatment causes accumulation of biosynthetic intermediates between synthetic pathway from $GA_12$ to $GA_20$ and because phyB-1 is altered in GA metabolism in this same region of the early C13-hydroxylation pathway, BX-112 may fail to block flowering of phyB-1.