Exogenous application of synthetic auxin (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) impacts on growth, yield, and nutritional parameters of lentil (Lens culinaris M.)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the impacts of exogenous application of synthetic auxin 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) on lentil (Lens culinaris M.) growth, yield, and nutritional parameters in the Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. Six treatments of 2,4-D (T0 = 0; T1 = 0.3; T2 = 0.5; T3 = 0.8; T4 = 1; and T5 = 1.2 ppm 2,4-D) with three replications were used in this study. Data on growth, yield, and nutritional parameters were collected and analyzed. The response of exogenous application of 2,4-D was significant in improving the performance of all the growth and yield contributing parameters as compared to untreated control plants. Exogenous application of 1 ppm 2,4-D was found to be effective for increasing plant height, branch number, root length, root-shoot fresh, and dry weight, nodule number, flower number, pod number, pod length, number of grains plant-1, 100-grain weight, and yield. Exogenous 2,4-D treatment significantly reduced the maturity time of lentil grain. The lowest date of maturity was found at 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2 ppm 2,4-D treatments. In this study, results showed a significant increase of different macro- (N, P, K) and micro- (Fe, Mn, Zn) nutrient content, uptake, and protein content in lentil grains with 1 ppm 2,4-D. It has been also revealed that the minimum requirement of 2,4-D to produce 80% lentil yield was 0.83 ppm. As a result, it was determined that the exogenous application of 2,4-D treatments is promising for enhancing the growth and productivity of lentil.