Abstract
Plant bio-stimulants play a significant role in triggering growth and boosting economic yield of crops. Even so, little information is found on the use of moringa leaf extract (MLE) as a natural bio-stimulant to improve growth and yield of vegetable crops in Bangladesh. Therefore, a field study was conducted at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, during rabi season in order to investigate the effect of MLE on growth and yield of cauliflower. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four treatments and three replications. The treatments were T1 (control) and T2 (MLE sprayed at 2 weeks after transplanting only), T3 (MLE sprayed at 2 weeks and 4 weeks after transplanting), T4 (MLE sprayed at 2 weeks after transplanting and after every two weeks thereafter). The rate of MLE application was 25 mL plant 1. All the treatments received recommended dose of N, P, K, S, Zn and B fertilizers. Application of MLE significantly improved the growth and yield attributes as well as gross yield and marketable yield of cauliflower. Among the parameters plant height (34.10 cm), length of the largest leaf (29.50 cm in length), fresh weight of root (9.50 g), fresh weight of stem (19.13 g), curd thickness (5.37 cm), curd diameter (16.03 cm), curd weight (0.48 kg), total weight of plant (0.76 kg), gross yield (12.81 t ha-1) and marketable yield (5.52 t ha-1) were the highest in T4 where MLE was sprayed at 2 weeks after transplanting and after every two weeks thereafter. The lowest values of all these parameters were found in T1 where no MLE was sprayed. This study suggests that MLE should be applied in cauliflower crop as a foliar spray at growth stages for obtaining higher growth and yield.
Highlights
Bangladesh is one of the densely populated countries in the world whose population is increasing day by day but most of the people of the country suffer from malnutrition
Foliar application of moringa leaf extract (MLE) showed no significant effect on other growth parameters viz. number of leaves plant-1, breadth and weight of the largest leaf but these parameters were improved with the increase of the frequency of MLE application
The minimum values of number of leaves plant-1 (16.67), breadth (13.50 cm) and weight of the largest leaf (20.07 g) were recorded in control treatment (T1) where no MLE was applied. These results are in agreement with many researchers who suggested significantly higher growth and improved growth parameters including plant height, weight of shoot, number of leaves etc [10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. in different vegetables and legume crops such as okra, pepper, snap bean, common bean, eggplant, tomato etc. by applying MLE compared to control
Summary
Bangladesh is one of the densely populated countries in the world whose population is increasing day by day but most of the people of the country suffer from malnutrition. According to the FAO recommendation, the amount of consumption of vegetables should be at least 200 g/day/person but the average intake of vegetables by the people of Bangladesh is far below the standard [1]. Cole crops are very popular, inexpensive and economically important vegetables in our country. By increasing the production of these vegetable crops, we can ensure nutritional demand of the country and contribute in national economy. In Bangladesh, cauliflower occupied 47749 acres of land with the total production of 268484 metric tons in [2]. The production of cauliflower is quite low and need to be enhanced by adopting new technology
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