Evaluation of some growth regulators foliar application on yield and quality of Okra plants

Abstract EN

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.

Moench) is a commercial vegetable crop and multipurposed plant belongs to family Malvacea.

Nevertheless, the field productivity of this important plant still limited despite a numerous or vast literature published about the effect of some other chemical growth regulators.

Nevertheless, foliar application of the cytokinins and auxins either singly or in combinations have not investigated extensively.

Therefore, two filed experiments were conducted in a private farm at Hosh Essa region, El-Baharia Governorate, Egypt, during two successive seasons, 2016 and 2017, to evaluate the mode of actions of both cytokinin; (benzyladenine BA) and the auxin (Naphatalene acetic acid; NAA) alone or in combination on growth performance (morphological and physiological traits), yield and quality (nutritional status) of okra, “Lady’s fingers” cv.

The experiments were carried out, in a randomized complete blocks design with 16 treatments, replicated each turn.

The auxin (NAA) tested levels were: 0, 10, 20 and 40 mg/l, and the cytokinin (BA) tested levels were 0, 25, 50 and100 mg/l, and their combination.

The data collected were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the aid of GENSTAT 5 package and significant means were separated using Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 5% probability level.

The obtained results indicated that the yield and its components, gradually, increased due to foliar application with 40 NAA+100 BA mg/l compared to the other treatments and control one during both seasons of 2016 and 2017, such as (pod length, diameter and weight, days to first flowering, number of pods per plant, weight of pod/plant, yield (kg/fed.), during both seasons.

Also, foliar application of the same mixed combination, significantly, increased chemical composition of okra plants, such as N, P, K percentages, and mucilage percentage during both 201٦ and 201٧ seasons.

It is possible to include that the aforementioned combination of both auxin and cytokinin could be advisable to okra growers to increase and enhance growth performance of okra “Ladys fingers” cv