Effect of Plant Growth Regulators on the Morphology, Flowering, Maturity, Yield Attributes, and Yield of Lentil (Lens culinaris L. Medik.)

Abstract

Comprehensively, nutrient deficiencies in humans and animals are a quiet epidemic in many underdeveloped nations. Nutrient deficiencies in humans and animals are a global problem in most developing countries. Lentil is one of the most important and nutritious Rabi pulse in India. It’s a leguminous crop that improves the soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation. In this contest an experiment was conducted to study the enhancement of plant growth, chlorophyll content, flowering, yield and seed protein content by plant growth regulators in DPL-62 lentil (Lens culinaris L. Medik) variety during two Rabi seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21. The field experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD). Five growth regulators viz. triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA), gibberellic acid (GA3), cytokinin, indole acetic acid (IAA), and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) were used in Eleven treatments were tested T1: Control, T2: 25 ppm TIBA, T3: 50 ppm TIBA, T4: 25 ppm GA3, T5: 50 ppm GA3, T6: 5 ppm Cytokinin, T7: 10 ppm Cytokinin, T8: 25 ppm IAA, T9: 50 ppm IAA, T10: 25 ppm NAA, T11: 50 ppm NAA. The results revealed that the maximum plant height (38.12 & 38.15 cm at harvest) was obtained by the 50 ppm GA3 followed by 50 ppm IAA (37.00 & 38.10 cm at harvest) spray at all stages. However, the 50 ppm TIBA showed better results (per plant) viz., number of branches (15.00, 15.33 at 110DAS), leaf area (86.50, 86.32 at 110DAS), number of pods (160.20, 160.37), pod setting (65.45, 65.50%), seed weight (2.02, 2.10g), test weight (27.32, 27.39g) and seed yield (1500.00, 1510.00 kg ha-1) of lentil as compared to all other treatments. The maximum days of flowering (67.50, 67.85) and days of maturity. On the basis of the observed results the growing of DPL-60 lentil variety with foliar applications of 50 ppm TIBA is recommended for the farmers of the test area for greater production and profitability.