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A rise in temperature during early spring inducing early maturity is a key yield-reducing factor in late sown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Moringa oleifera Lam. leaves are rich in zeatin, a cytokinin that plays a role in delaying leaf senescence, in addition to other growth-enhancing compounds such as ascorbates, phenolics, and minerals. The objective of this study was to optimize dose and optimum growth stage for foliar-applied moringa leaf extract (MLE) and its role in delaying leaf senescence in late sown wheat. The wheat crop was sown on 16 December 2008; MLE (diluted 30 times) was applied at different growth stages from tillering to heading and heading alone and distilled water was sprayed as a control. All the MLE treatment results were better than the control. However, an increase of 10.73%, 6.00%, 10.70%, and 4.00% was evident in 1000 grain weight, biological yield, grain yield, and harvest index, respectively, with MLE spray at tillering + jointing + booting + heading. The MLE spray used only at heading gave 6.84%, 3.17%, 6.80%, and 3.51% more than the control 1000 grain weight, biological yield, grain yield, and harvest index, respectively. The MLE extended seasonal leaf area duration (Seasonal LAD) by 9.22 and 6.45 d over the control when applied at all growth stages and a single spray at heading, respectively. We conclude that it is possible that the presence of growth-promoting substances in MLE foliar spray can delay crop maturity and extend seasonal LAD and the grain-filling period, thereby leading to greater seed and biological yields in late sown wheat.

Reduced early crop growth and limited branching are amongst yield limiting factors of linola. Field response of seed priming treatments viz. 50 mM salicylic acid (SA), 2.2% CaCl2 and 3.3% moringa leaf extract (MLE) including untreated dry and hydropriming controls was evaluated on early crop growth and yield performance of linola. Osmopriming with CaCl2 reduced emergence time and produced highest seedling fresh and dry weights including Chl a contents. Osmopriming with CaCl2 reduced crop branching, flowering and maturity time and had maximum plant height, number of branches, tillers, pods and seeds per pod followed by MLE. Increase in seed weight, biological and seed yield was 9.30, 34.16 and 39.49%, harvest index (4.12%) and oil contents (13.39%) for CaCl2 osmopriming. Positive relationship between emergence and seedling vigor traits; 100-seed weight, seed yield with maturity time, 100-seed weight and seed yield was found. The study concludes that seed osmopriming with CaCl2 or MLE can play significant role to improve early crop growth and seed yields of linola.

Among the natural plant growth stimulants, moringa has attained enormous attention due to its leaf composition being enriched with cytokinin, antioxidants and minerals. Exogenous application of moringa leaf extract (MLE) improves productivity in many crops. This study investigated the potential of MLE with different dilutions, i.e., MLE0, MLE10, MLE20 and MLE30 (0, 10, 20 and 30 times diluted in water, respectively) to improve the performance of tomato. Foliage-applied water and benzylaminopurine (BAP, 50 mg L -1 ) were taken as controls. Among treatments, foliar-applied MLE30 produced maximum vegetative and flowering branches, number of flowers and heaviest fruits per plant of tomato in comparison with synthetic BAP and other treatments. A similar increase in vegetative and flowering branches was recorded for root-applied MLE20 including BAP. Foliageapplied MLE30 also increased chlorophyll (a) pigments and leaf total soluble proteins than other stimulants used. This increase was followed by enhanced antioxidant activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), total phenolics in leaves and fruit lycopene contents of tomato. In general, foliar application of MLE30 was more effective as natural biostimulant to improve growth, productivity and fruit quality of tomato as compared to synthetic BAP and its root application.

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In current study, field experiments were conducted to optimize the effects of foliar application of natural plant growth promoter i.e., moringa leaf extract (MLE) and synthetic growth retardant mepiquate chloride (MC) alone and in combined form. The time of applications were beginning of bloom, 45 and 90 days after blooming. Both the conventional (CIM 573) and Bt cotton (CIM 598) cultivars were used. The experiment was performed at agronomic research area, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan and Usmania Agricultural Farm, Shujabad during 2012. The combined application of MLE and MC at 45 days after blooming enhanced absolute growth rate, number of squares per plant in Bt, while specific leaf weight in non Bt cultivar. However, same treatment when applied at 90 days after blooming improved the number of bolls per plant, seed cotton yield, cotton seed yield, lint yield and lint index in Bt cotton. Application of MC alone reduced the plant growth without significantly increasing the yield. The natural growth promoter MLE being a rich source of macro, micro nutrients and zeatin enhanced growth and yield attributes not only when applied alone but also in combination with synthetic growth retardant MC.

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The effects of exogenously applied Moringa oleifera leaf extract (MLE), nitrogen and potassium were studied on the productivity and quality of two cotton cultivars (CIM-573) and transgenic Bt cotton (CIM-598). The Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) factorial experiment was conducted at Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan (30.2639 °N, 71.5101 °E; 123 m asl), during 2016 and 2017, with three replications. The analysis of variance revealed the significance of cotton cultivars and foliar applications for the majority of traits studied, in both years. The CIM-573 had superiority for most of the traits studied in 2016 and 2017 trials, while the CIM-598 cultivar had significantly higher record for chlorophyll content, seed cotton yield, mean boll weight, and seed index in 2016 and sympodial branches per plant in 2017. Foliar application of Moringa Leaf Extract (MLE) and synthetic fertilizers showed significant differences for the traits studied compared to the distilled water. Exogenous application of MLE has a positive effect on photosynthetic and enzymatic activities that improve the efficiency of nutrients that are utilized, thereby improving the growth, seed cotton yield and quality of cotton cultivars tested. All the interaction effects had a significant influence on the traits studied, except ginning percentage in 2016. The interaction between the conventional cotton cultivar (CIM 573) and exogenous application of MLE + nitrogen + potassium had significantly higher effect on plant height, cotton yield, staple length, fiber maturity, and fiber strength for the 2017 trial and was superior for the quality parameters in 2017. The interaction of the Bt cotton cultivar (CIM 598) and the foliar application of MLE + nitrogen + potassium had superiority in cotton yield, yield components and the quality parameters in the 2017 trial. Both the CIM 573 and CIM 598 cotton cultivars had consistent expressions for all quality traits studied, although they did fluctuate in their expression to these agronomic traits between the field trials of 2016 and 2017. Additive gene effects could be the explanation for the unstable effects of yield and the related traits in the different environmental conditions of the field trials in the two years. Our results suggest that the exogenous application of MLE alone and in combination with nitrogen and potassium could be used to improve the productivity and the quality of these cotton cultivars. The correlation coefficients indicate strong associations between the agronomic and quality traits, indicating that one or more yield parameters could be used as selection criteria to improve the productivity and quality of cotton.