noun
- A synthetic plant hormone used to promote ripening of fruits and acceleration of plant maturation in agriculture.
Usage: technical; agriculture
Examples
- Farmers apply ethephon to tomato crops to ensure uniform ripening before harvest.
- Ethephon is commonly used in commercial fruit production to speed up the maturation process.
- The chemical ethephon breaks down in plants to release ethylene, a natural ripening agent.
- Ethephon treatment can reduce the time between flowering and fruit harvest by several days.