Conclusion
Application of 2, 4-D at 5 and 10 ppm resulted in reduced
plant growth and hastened early flowering and fruiting
with concentrate pick harvest. On the contrary, GA3
applications at all concentrations seem to promote
vegetative growth and extended maturity time and
harvest. Improvement in number of fruits per cluster, fruit
set, and marketable fruit number per plant due to GA3
was observed. This suggested that herbicidal effect of
2,4-D at higher concentrations hastened maturity of the
plants so that they complete their life cycle in a short
period of time while GA3 spray seems to extend growing
and maturity time. In general, these findings suggested
that both PGRs have opposite effect in fruit setting, fruit
number per plant and fruit earliness. Therefore, based on
market preference and cost of production, it is possible to
induce fruit earliness without affecting the final yield and
quality by application of 2, 4-D and vice versa. However,
these synthetic substances should be used only at tested
and recommended concentrations in order to preserve
quality crop product that are safe and healthy for the