Q.What is the mechanism underlying the phenomenon by which the terminal/apical bud suppresses the growth of lateral buds? Suggest measures to overcome this phenomenon.

The suppression of lateral bud growth by the apical (terminal) bud is called apical dominance, and it is attributed to the higher concentration of auxin present in the growing apical bud compared with the lateral buds. As long as the apex remains intact and keeps producing this auxin, the lateral buds beneath it stay suppressed. This can be overcome by decapitation — physically removing the shoot tip — which removes the source of the suppressing auxin and allows the lateral buds to sprout; this is exactly the technique used in tea plantations and h …

In most higher plants, the growing apical bud inhibits the growth of the lateral (axillary) buds arranged along the stem below it — this phenomenon is called apical dominance. The mechanism behind it centres on auxin: the apical bud maintains a higher concentration of auxin than the lateral buds do, and it is this auxin that keeps the lateral buds in a suppressed, non-growing state as long as the apex is active.

Because the suppression depends on the continuing presence of the apex as an auxin source, removing the shoot tip breaks the effect. Decapitation — cutting away the growing tip — removes the source of the dominant auxin supply, and the lateral buds, no longer suppressed, begin to grow out into new shoots. …

Method: Explaining a Mechanism and Deriving a Practical Intervention

Use this method for any two-part question that asks (a) explain the mechanism behind a phenomenon, and (b) suggest a way to overcome/reverse it.

Steps

Step 1: State the mechanism as a cause-and-effect chain

For apical dominance: apical bud → produces/maintains a higher concentration of auxin → auxin suppresses growth of lateral buds below it. Write it as a chain, not a single fact, so the "why" is explicit.

Step 2: Identify what keeps the mechanism running

Ask: what has to stay true for the effect to continue? Here, the apex must remain intact and actively producing auxin — the suppression only persists as long as this condition holds.

Step 3: Derive the intervention by breaking that condition …