Planta Med 2006; 72 - P_296
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-950096

Preharvest Combined Application of Triacontanol and Kinetin Could Ameliorate the Growth, Yield and Curcumin Content of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)

M Masroor 1, A Khan 1, M Singh 1, M Naeem 1, S Nasir 1
  • 1Plant Physiology Laboratory, Botany Department, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002. India

A simple randomized pot experiment was conducted at the Department of Botany, A.M.U., Aligarh during the year 2004–2005 to study the influence of foliar application of two potent plant growth regulators (PGRs), namely, Triacontanol (TRIA) and Kinetin (KN) on turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). The five treatments applied four times at fortnightly intervals comprised Control (T0), 10-6 M TRIA + 1.0×10-6 M KN (T1), 10-6 M TRIA + 5.0×10-6 M KN (T2), 10-6 M TRIA + 1.0×10-5 M KN (T3) and 10-6 M TRIA + 5.0×10-5 M KN (T4). Various selected attributes viz. plant height, fresh mass, number of leaves, number of tillers per plant, total carbohydrate, protein, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and curcumin contents in the rhizome and total chlorophyll content in leaf were recorded. T3 was found to be most effective for most parameters. Correlation analysis revealed that rhizome yield was contributed by increased plant height (R=0.985), fresh weight of shoot (R=0.997), number of leaves (R=0.983), leaf-N content (R=0.999) and total chlorophyll content (R=0.997). Curcumin yield was significantly contributepd due to leaf-N content (R=0.999) and total chlorophyll content (R=0.992). T3 enhanced the rhizome yield by 25.7% and curcumin by 39.9% over their respective controls. Thus, the combined application of the two PGRs in the form of foliar spray may be successfully adopted for improved productivity and quality of turmeric.

Triacontanol

Curcumin

Kinetin