Use of indolyl compounds for regulating plant growth
By adding indolol solution to the nutrient solution, the problem of limited increase in tiller number in grass plants in existing technologies was solved, and a significant increase in tiller number and yield was achieved, especially under low zinc stress conditions.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- ZHENGZHOU UNIV
- Filing Date
- 2026-04-17
- Publication Date
- 2026-06-16
AI Technical Summary
Existing technologies are insufficient to efficiently promote tillering in grasses such as wheat and rice, and traditional plant growth regulators have limited effectiveness and may lead to soil compaction and environmental pollution.
Indolol was used as a growth regulator. By adding indolol solution to the nutrient solution, the tillering number of gramineous plants such as wheat and rice was promoted, and their tolerance to low zinc stress was improved.
It significantly increases the number of tillers in grasses, enhances their yield, improves their growth, and exhibits a more significant promoting effect under low zinc stress.
Smart Images
Figure FT_1 
Figure FT_2 
Figure SMS_2
Abstract
Description
Background Technology
[0001] The Poaceae family includes many food crops, such as cereal crops, tuber crops, and legume crops. Cereal crops mainly include rice, wheat (wheat, barley, rye, oats, etc.), corn, sorghum, millet, foxtail millet, and sorghum.
[0002] Wheat and rice, as among the most important food crops in my country and even globally, play a crucial role in ensuring food security and stabilizing agricultural production. The yield of wheat and rice is mainly determined by several key agronomic traits, including the number of effective tillers, plant height, biomass, and root development. Among these, the number of tillers directly affects the number of effective panicles per unit area and is one of the core factors constituting yield.
[0003] In current wheat and rice cultivation practices, the rational application of basic fertilizers such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium can promote growth to some extent. However, as the amount of fertilizer applied increases, its promoting effect on wheat and rice growth gradually weakens, and may even lead to problems such as soil compaction and environmental pollution. Meanwhile, some existing plant growth regulators, such as gibberellins and auxins, while playing a role in regulating plant growth, have complex mechanisms of action and lack specificity, resulting in limited effectiveness in promoting the number of tillers in wheat and rice.
[0004] A comprehensive search revealed that some indole plant growth regulators can increase yield, but their structures involve substitution at the 3-position of the indole ring or contain halogens. Known compounds containing the indole skeleton exhibit completely different physiological activities in plants, depending on the substitution position and halogens, etc.
[0005] Therefore, developing a growth regulator that can efficiently and comprehensively promote the growth of grasses, especially significantly increase the number of tillers, is of great practical significance for further improving the yield and growth status of grasses. Indolol, as a non-cardiac-selective β-blocker, is commonly used in the medical field to treat hypertension, angina pectoris, and arrhythmia. However, its potential in agriculture, particularly in regulating plant growth, has not been reported. Summary of the Invention
[0006] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention provides indolol as a growth regulator, such as a promoter, for grasses. Grasses can be grass crops, such as grain crops, cereal crops, such as rice, wheat, barley, rye, oats, etc. The plants can be monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous.
[0007] Studies have shown that exogenous supplementation with indorol can have at least one of the following effects: It can increase the yield of gramineous plants (rice and wheat), increase flowering and panicle production, regulate the number of tillers (such as increasing the number of tillers), and improve the plant's tolerance to low zinc levels.
[0008] Example of a method for promoting the growth of grass plants, comprising the following steps: First, the present invention provides a plant growth promoter, the component of which is indolol solution.
[0009] The indolol solution can be prepared as follows: dissolve indolol in ethanol to prepare a stock solution.
[0010] The mother liquor can be applied directly or after adding fertilizer or nutrient solution (e.g., 1L of nutrient solution plus 10μL of mother liquor to prepare a 10 nM working solution).
[0011] Indolol (abbreviated as Pin in this experiment) has the chemical name (RS)-1-(1H-Indol-4-yloxy)-3-(isopropylamino)propan-2-ol and can be used as a salt by addition of free bases or acids.
[0012] Furthermore, the plants mentioned are wheat and rice.
[0013] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention include: the present invention discloses a plant growth regulator that can enhance plant tillering, indolol can increase the tillering number of wheat and rice, and its promoting effect is more significant under low zinc stress. Attached Figure Description
[0014] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on the provided drawings without creative effort.
[0015] For the reduction in tiller number caused by nutrient stress, the significance markers in the graphs regarding the effect of indolol treatment on tiller recovery are all comparisons between the indolol-treated group and the control group, with the following uniform meanings: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; ns represents no significance. Figure 1 Statistical analysis of the effect of indolol treatment on wheat tiller number under zinc deficiency conditions; Figure 2 Statistical analysis of the effect of indolol treatment on the number of tillers in rice. Detailed Implementation
[0016] The present invention will be further described below with reference to specific embodiments, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto: In this invention, unless otherwise specified, the equipment and raw materials used are commercially available or commonly used in the field. The methods in the following embodiments, unless otherwise specified, are conventional methods in the field.
[0017] Example 1: Effect of Indorol Treatment on Wheat Tillering Sow wheat seeds on gauze in a seedling tray and add water; Five days after the wheat germinates, it is transferred to a nutrient solution for hydroponics. The nutrient solution is a combination of Hoagland and Anon nutrient solutions, with the following formula:
[0018] Meanwhile, indolol was added to the nutrient solution to bring the final concentration to 10 nM, with no indolol added as a control.
[0019] The nutrient solution was changed every five days. Tillering began to appear after 15 days of cultivation, and the number of tillers was checked every three days.
[0020] Each time, a number of plants were counted for each variety and each treatment, and the average value was calculated. The results are shown in Table 1. Control groups 1 and 2 represent two wheat varieties, respectively. Table 1. Effects of 10 nM indolol treatment on wheat tillering. Number of tillers 15 d 18 d 21 d 24 d 27 d 30 d Control group 1 0.05 0.65 0.9 1.45 1.95 2.05 Control group 1+Pin 0.55 0.7 0.9 1.65 2.0 2.25 Control group 2 0.1 1 1.05 1.2 1.85 1.95 Control group 2+Pin 1.15 1.2 1.25 1.9 1.95 2.45 Example 2: Effects of different concentrations of indolol on wheat tillering under nutrient deficiency Sow wheat seeds on gauze in a seedling tray and add water; Five days after the wheat germinates, it is transferred to a nutrient solution for hydroponics. The nutrient solution is a combination of Hoagland and Anon nutrient solutions, with the following formula:
[0021] Normal zinc culture was supplemented with 0.8 μM ZnCl2, while zinc-deficient culture was supplemented with 0.04 μM ZnCl2. Simultaneously, indolol was added to the nutrient solution to final concentrations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 200 nM, with no indolol added serving as a control.
[0022] The nutrient solution was changed every five days, and the number of tillers was investigated after 30 days of cultivation.
[0023] Each time, a number of plants of each variety and each treatment were counted, and the average value was calculated. The results are as follows: Figure 1 .
[0024] Example 3: Effect of Indorol Treatment on Rice Tillering Sow the rice seeds on the gauze in the seedling tray and add water; Five days after the rice germinates, it is transferred to a nutrient solution for hydroponics. The nutrient solution is formulated by the International Rice Research Institute. Meanwhile, indolol was added to the nutrient solution to bring the final concentration to 100 nM, with no indolol added as a control.
[0025] The nutrient solution was changed every five days, and the number of tillers was investigated after 30 days of cultivation.
[0026] Each time, a number of plants of each variety and each treatment were counted, and the average value was calculated. The results are as follows: Figure 2 .
Claims
1. Application of indolol in regulating the growth of grass plants. Grass plants can be grass crops, such as grain crops, especially cereal crops; they can be monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous plants, such as wheat and rice.
2. The application as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Regulation of plant growth is selected from increasing yield, increasing flowering and spikelet production, and regulating the number of tillers, such as increasing the number of tillers.
3. The application as described in any of the prior claims, characterized in that, The plant in question is either wheat or rice.