Abstract
This study was conducted to examine the effects of Salicylic acid (SA) and Potassium nitrate (KNO3) on plant height and flowering time of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) under induced stresses of salinity, drought and combined salinity and drought. Three watering regimes namely; normal, moderate and severe were used. For salinity stress, 50 mM NaCl, 100 mM NaCl, 150 mM NaCl and combination of water and salinity regimes were used. 50 μm KNO3 and 50 μm SA were separately applied to plants under water, salinity and combined water and salinity stresses. The mean plant height at 100 mM salt concentration were 42.29 cm for KNO3, 42.27 cm for SA, compared with 40.98 cm for control (F = 2.73; P ≤ 0.008). In combined severe watering and 150 mM NaCl treatment, flowering time was 57 DAP (days after planting) compared to 34 DAP in control plants. When KNO3 and SA were applied to severe watering and 150 mM NaCl combined stress induced plants, flowering time was 51 DAP and 53 DAP for KNO3 and SA treated plants respectively. In conclusion, the exogenous application of plant growth regulators such as SA and KNO3 reduce impact of water stress on groundnut and effectively improve yield.
Highlights
Arachis hypogaea L. is one of the world’s most popular crops cultivated throughout the tropical and sub-tropical areas where annual precipitation is between 1000 - 1200 mm for optimum growth of the crop (Shiyam, 2010)
Effect of Salicylic acid (SA) and KNO3 on mean plant height treated with varying concentrations of NaCl It was observed that, as NaCl concentration increased, there was a reduction in plant height (Table 1)
Plants treated with SA and KNO3 under different NaCl concentrations recorded marginally higher mean plant height values compared to their respective controls treated with only NaCl (Table 1) the differences were not statistically significant (F = 2.73, P = 0.008)
Summary
Arachis hypogaea L. (groundnut) is one of the world’s most popular crops cultivated throughout the tropical and sub-tropical areas where annual precipitation is between 1000 - 1200 mm for optimum growth of the crop (Shiyam, 2010). Plants have adapted to a broad array of mechanisms during their evolution to withstand a range of stressful conditions (Lamalakshmi Devi et al, 2017) These include the synthesis of potassium containing chemicals such as KNO3 and plant growth regulators such as SA. The objective of this study, was to investigate the effects of varying water deficits, salinity and their combination on growth of economically important crop such as groundnut plant and integrate stress responses with flowering time and plant height. The influence of the mitigating effects of SA and KNO3 on plant height and flowering time of groundnut under water and salinity stresses were investigated. Days to first anthesis were recorded for each test plant
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