Horticulture: Hormonal therapy for grapevines

Horticulture: Hormonal therapy for grapevines Jim Willwerth, Assistant Professor and Researcher at Brock University, Canada, in this horticulture discussion, delves into what we need to know about hormonal therapy for grapevines, including plant growth regulators. Hormones are found across many organisms, including animals, plants and fungi. They consist of a class of signalling molecules that are sent to organs or tissues by biological processes to regulate both physiology and behaviour. In medicine, we treat many ailments and diseases with drugs. Recent advances in treatments such as immunotherapy and hormonal therapy have improved many individuals’ life expectancy and quality of life. Hormonal therapies are used to treat different types of cancer (breast, ovarian, prostate), menopause and others. For cancer treatment, hormone therapy adds, blocks, or removes hormones to slow or stop the growth of certain cancer cells that need hormones to grow.