Comparison of four seaweed extracts on germination and root promotion of Lens esculenta

Abstract

Biostimulants were considered as biological, organic and synthetic components that promote the plant growth; recently seaweed extracts have been reported as plant biostimulants applied to agricultural systems and there were reported positive effects of them on germination and root promotion. The aim of the present work was to analyze and compare the effect of four seaweed extracts from Gracilaria debilis, Sargassum liebmanni, Sargassum vulgare and Ulva fasciata on germination and root elongation of Lens esculenta. The plant root elongation promoting (PREP) activity assay was employed to analyze the effect of seaweed liquid extracts on Lens esculenta seeds by a tolerance index, the normalized residual percentage of germinated seeds index and the normalized residual elongation root index. Even there was a toxic effect of the extracts from two of the seaweeds tested: S. vulgare and U. fasciata on L. esculenta germination; all the seaweed liquid extracts showed a good response at low concentrations; particularly the employ of S. liebmannii and U. fasciata are recommended at a moderate dilution rate of their extracts for the increase of germination and growth of plants tested.