Final answer:
The apical meristem produces a hormone called auxin, which is responsible for apical dominance by inhibiting the growth of axillary buds, thereby allowing the main central stem to grow more strongly.
Step-by-step explanation:
The apical meristem produces a plant hormone called auxin, which inhibits the activity of the meristematic tissue in the axillary buds.
Auxins are a group of plant hormones that greatly influence a plant’s development. They promote cell elongation, which is crucial for phototropism and gravitropism, and play a vital role in the growth process known as apical dominance. This process allows the central stem to grow stronger than the other side stems, giving many plants their characteristic shapes. It is the auxins produced by the apical meristem that inhibit the growth of axillary buds, maintaining this dominance.
Auxins are also essential in other plant biological processes such as differentiation of meristem into vascular tissue, leaf development, flowering, fruit setting and ripening, and reduction of abscission (leaf falling). Furthermore, auxins can synchronize the fruit setting and dropping in crops, a benefit that is widely used in agricultural practices.