I am learning php whilst building a small web application that uses the phpMyAdmin utility to manage mySQL database queries in a development environment.
I am wondering if this tool can be used to administer and handle mySQL in a full production environment when I hopefully go live with my completed application.
I have looked around for answers online without getting much in the way of clarification.
It absolutely can be used.
Some would argue that it shouldn't be used in production, however. The main reason being for security. At worst, phpMyAdmin could be a completely unprotected way for attackers to access your database. At best, it's something extraneous that's not strictly necessary in a production environment.
Considering that you're just learning php, I wouldn't worry to much about using it in production. Just put a password on it.