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
