Moringa oleifera Lam. Seed Extracts Improve the Growth, Essential Minerals, and Phytochemical Constituents of Lessertia frutescens L.

Abstract

The exploring of biostimulant sources is important for sustainable agriculture. Although all parts of the moringa plant (Moringa oleifera Lam.) are rich in phytohormones and phytochemicals which may be utilised as a potential plant growth enhancer, most attention has been placed on its leaves as a possible biostimulant for enhancing productivity of plants. Little has been reported on moringa seed extract (MSE) as a growth enhancer on medicinal plants. Thus, this study investigated the efficacy of MSE doses (water spray as control, MSE at 2, 4, 6 and 8%) on growth attributes, mineral content and phytochemical compositions of cancer bush plants (Lessertia frutescens L.) grown during the winter–spring and spring–summer seasons of 2021. A gradual increase in growth characteristics, chlorophyll content, phenols and flavonoid contents was recorded in all concentrations of MSE-treated plants compared with controls. Furthermore, all levels of MSE effectively enhanced the concentrations of macronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium as well as micronutrients comprising copper, zinc, iron, manganese and sodium of cancer bush plants relative to untreated plants. Both 6 and 8% MSE concentrations showed high productivity, minerals and phytochemical constituents in cancer bush plants in comparison with 2 and 4% MSE treatments. Overall, the findings of this study demonstrated that, even at low concentrations, MSE can be successfully applied as a biostimulant to improve the growth and biochemical attributes of cancer bush plants.

Foliar Application of Moringa Seed Extract Alone or in Combination with Salicylic Acid Enhanced Growth, Bioactive, and Phytohormone Compositions of Cancer Bush Plants under Heat Stress

“…Experimental setup. Both experiments were arranged in an RCBD with plant spacing of 40 cm and row spacing of 50 cm (Buthelezi et al 2023). Plant pots were arranged for MSE, SA, and MSE 1 SA foliar spray application.…”

Moringa oleifera Lam. seed extract enhances tolerance to water stress by regulating photosynthesis and antioxidant defence mechanism in Lessertia frutescens L.

“…Moringa seeds used in this experiment was the remainder from our previous study (Buthelezi et al 2023) which were harvested in bulk from commercial orchards of Afrinest Moringa Farm in Tzaneen, Limpopo, South Africa (23°49'15.3" S, 30°10'08.7" E). The harvested seeds were then ground into ne powder using…”

“…The culterra potting soil used in the current study was obtained from Builders Express, Pretoria, South Africa (25° 40' 28.49" S, 28° 6' 31.22" E). This product was composed from raw organic material such as general 2:3:2 ( 22), lawn 8:1:5 (25), LAN (28%), ammonium sulfate (21%), vita ora 5:1:5 (33) SRN and vital ora 3:1:5 (26) SRN per 30 kg of soil (Buthelezi et al 2023).…”

“…Also, due to the sensitive response of leaf conductance to decreased leaf water potential, the more conservative use of water leads to higher WUE in water-de cient plants, which may possibly be a mechanism for enhancing resource utilization(Mashilo et al 2017;Wang et al 2020). Furthermore, these observations may be due to the modi ed levels of phytohormones including gibberellins and abscisic acid in guard cells which enhance stomatal conductance to improve CO 2 diffusion and WUE (Fig.2B,F) under water stress(Buthelezi et al 2023). Our results are in agreement…”

“…Buthelezi et al 2023). The fty pots of each one of the two irrigation groups (DI-stressed plants; 60% of SWHC and unstressed plants; 80% of SWHC) were divided into two subgroups for MSE foliar application.…”