Influence of growth regulators on nutrient concentrations, nutrient uptake and quality parameters of cluster bean varieties

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1 Legume Research, 39 (5) 2016 : Print ISSN: / Online ISSN: AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE Influence of growth regulators on nutrient concentrations, nutrient uptake and quality parameters of cluster bean varieties V.K. Meena 1 *, M.K. Kaushik 1, Rakesh Kumar 3, Magan Singh, B.L. Meena 2, B.P. Meena, Rajesh Kumar Meena, Uttam Kumar and Sourabh Kumar 3 Department of Agronomy, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur , Rajasthan, India. Received: Accepted: DOI: /lr.v0iOF.3764 ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted during the season kharif 2008 and 2009 to find out response of cluster bean varieties to growth regulators. RGC-936 recorded in significantly higher amount of total nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) uptake and protein content during both the years over RGC-1017, RGC-1003 and RGC Seed + foliar application with 500 ppm recorded maximum total N and P uptake. Quality parameters viz. gum and protein in seed, were found highest in cultivar RGC 1017 which was at par with RGC-1002 and RGC-1003 and all these three varieties were significantly superior over RGC 936. Variety RGC-1017 recorded 15.3% higher gum content over RGC-936. Among the growth regulators. maximum gum content in seed were recorded with the seed + foliar application of 500 ppm. However, it was found statistically at par with the seed + foliar application of 100 ppm and significantly superior to rest of the treatments in current study. Key words: Clusterbean, Cultivars, Nutrient content, Quality, TGA, Thiourea, Uptake. INTRODUCTION Guar (cluster bean) is generally grown in India as fodder, feed, food and cover crops mainly in complex, diverse, risky and under-invested rainfed (arid and semi-arid) regions. However, in recent past a vast range of value added products or derivatives appeared in the market with more than one lakh patents globally and, thus, guar has now become an important commercial crop of Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat. India contributes about 80% to global guar seed production. Guar gum is extracted from the seed and its derivatives have very unique properties of solubility over wide range of temperatures, as hydrocolloid, emulsifier, thickener, stabilizer, coating/filming agent, binder, thyrotrophic, non-ionic, cross-linking, gelling, preservation, non-calorific fibrous food etc. Guar gum and its derivatives are critical ingredients in about 100 products or processes in 21 sectors of food, petroleum/gas exploration, explosives, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paper industry, textile, paints/ distempers, and aerial firefighting etc. Rajasthan alone contributes to 83% area and 65% to the production in India. Average productivity of 1096 kg/ha in Haryana, 769 kg/ha in Punjab, 582 kg/ha in Gujarat and 319 kg/ha in Rajasthan still needs improvement. Out of 33 districts of Rajasthan, 13 districts contribute 94% of the state s production (Anonymous, 2014). *Corresponding author s kumar.ladla@gmail.com. 1 Department of Agronomy, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur , Rajasthan, India. 2 ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal , India. 3 ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal , India. The use of agro-chemicals has been started to modify various metabolic or physiological processes to regulate plant growth (Pooniya et al., 2015; Dass et al., 2016). Several researchers working on different crop have reported that the use of growth substances is one of the effective means of delaying the senescence of leaves as well as retarding the abscission of reproductive organs. Application of growth regulator also increase flower, fruit setting, grain filling and test weight in different crops (Choudhary et al., 2014; Kaur et al., 2015; Pooniya et al., 2015). Among agro-chemicals, thiourea plays vital role in physiological processes and modifying growth, yield and quality of clusterbean crop. Thiourea is easily available and cost effective compound. Thiourea is a sulphydryl compound, containing one SH group (Jocelyn, 1972). The SH group has also been implicated in photosynthate translocation in crop plant. The SH group is directly involved in light activation of photosynthetic enzymes. Thiourea and thioglycolic acid are sulphydryl bioregulators. Thiourea contains one SH group besides containing N in the form of NH 2. It contains 42.1% sulphur (S) and 36.8% nitrogen (N). Thus, it behaves in the physiology of the plant both as sulphydryl compound and as amino compound like urea. The stimulatory action of thiourea in various physiological processes of plant is well known.

2 798 LEGUME RESEARCH - An International Journal Evidences are also available that loss of reactive sulphydryl group of the membrane protein is the under lying mechanism for drought injury. Foliar application of sulphydryl compounds may therefore improve the drought tolerance of plants, because of the unique role of sulphydryl group in photosynthesis and dry matter partitioning. MATERIALS AND METHODS A field experiment was carried out at the Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur during the kharif seasons of 2008 and 2009 to find out the response of cluster bean cultivars to growth regulators. Twenty eight treatment combination viz. four variety (RGC-936, RGC-1002, RGC AND RGC-1017) as main-plot treatment and seven growth substance (control, seed treatment with 500 ppm, foliar application of 500 ppm, seed + foliar application of 500 ppm, seed treatment with TGA@ 100 ppm, foliar application of 100 ppm and seed + foliar application of 100 ppm) as subplot treatments; was laid-out in split-plot design with three replications. Chlorophyll content of leaves at 60 days after sowing (DAS) was determined by the method of Arnon (1949). Cholorophyll content was calculated by following formula: Total cholorophyll content (mg g -1 fresh weight) = 20.2 A A 663 V a 1000 W Where; a = Length of light path in the cell, W = fresh weight of sample (g), V = volume of extract (ml). The seed samples were analysed for gum content by phenol-sulphuric acid method (Das et al., 1977). The plant seed and haulm samples, collected at harvest, were oven dried at constant temperature of 70ºC for 72 hours. The dried samples were finely ground and passed through 40 mm mesh sieve and used for determination of nutrient content (N and P) as per standard procedures (Rana et al., 2014). For estimation of nutrient uptake (N and P) by seed and haulm at harvest, seed and haulm yields were multiplied by respective nutrient content and expressed as nutrient uptake in kg ha -1. Nutrient uptake (kg ha -1 ) = Nutrient content (%) Yield (kg ha -1 ) 100 The total uptake by the crop was computed by summing up the uptake by seed and haulm. The protein content of seed was calculated by multiplying per cent nitrogen content in seed with constant factor 6.25 (Rana et al., 2014). In order to test the significance of variation in experimental data obtained from various treatment effects, data were statistically analyzed. The critical differences were calculated to assess the significance of treatment mean, whenever the F test was found significant at 5% level. To estimate interrelation between various characters, correlation coefficient was computed. Further, in order to establish cause and effect relationship, regression equations were calculated. All these estimates were computed by standard statistical procedure (Panse and Sukhatme, 1985). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effect of varieties on phosphorous (P) and nitrogen (N) content (%) was non- significant. But the effect of growth regulators on both P and N content was significant (Table 1). The P content on pooled basis in haulm as well as in seed were highest in variety RGC 936 than other varieties of cluster bean. It was 1.073% in seed and 0.359% in haulm of RGC 936. The N content was also found highest in variety RGC 936 than other varieties which was about 4.32 and 0.946%. In case of growth regulators, the highest P content on pooled mean basis in seed and haulm were found in treatments seed + foliar application of thiourea (500 ppm each) followed by seed + foliar application of TGA (100 ppm each), P content in seed was and 1.141% and in haulm was and 0.397%, respectively. Maximum N content in seed (4.54%) as well as in haulm was recorded with seed + foliar application with thiourea 500 ppm, which was found significantly superior over the other growth regulator treatments. The application of seed + foliar application with thiourea 500 ppm and seed + foliar application with TGA 10 0ppm, were statistically at par with each other during both the years as well as on pooled basis (Lakhana et al., 2005). Jharia (2002) found that foliar spray of 500 ppm thiourea at branching resulted in significant improvement in N, P and gum content of clusterbean seed. The nitrogen uptake in both seed as well as haulm was found to be significantly influenced by the varieties as well as growth regulators during both the years and in pooled basis (Table 2). The variety RGC-936 recorded the maximum N uptake (56.9 kg/ha) which was significantly higher over RGC-1017, RGC-1003 and RGC-1002 by 8.8, 33.1 and 37.9%, respectively. In case of growth regulators, naximum N uptake in seed was recorded with seed + foliar application with thiourea 500 ppm, which was found significantly superior over foliar application with thiourea 500 ppm, seed treatment with TGA 100 ppm, foliar application with TGA 100 ppm, seed treatment with thiourea 500 ppm and control treatments. The total P uptake in seed as well as haulm followed the same trend as that of N uptake in various treatments of growth regulators and varieties. Variety RGC 936 showed that magnitude of per cent increase were by 8.5, 28.3 and 36.5, respectively over RGC-1017, RGC-1003 and RGC- 1002, respectively. Cluster bean variety RGC-1017 also recorded significantly higher total P uptake by haulm as compared to RGC-1003 and RGC-1002 by 18.2 and 25.8%, respectively. In case of growth regulators, the study showed

3 Volume 39 Issue 5 (2016) 799 Table 1: Effect of varieties and growth regulators on nitrogen and phosphorus content (%) of cluster bean. Treatment Nitrogen content (%) Phosphorus content (%) Seed Haulm Seed Haulm Pooled Pooled Pooled Pooled Varieties RGC RGC RGC RGC S.Em± CD (P=0.05) NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS Growth regulators Control (Water spray) Seed treatment thiourea 500 ppm Foliar application of thiourea 500 ppm Seed + foliar application of thiourea (500 ppm each) Seed treatment TGA 100 ppm Foliar application of TGA100 ppm Seed + foliar application of TGA (100 ppm each) S.Em± CD (P=0.05) Table 2: Effect of varieties and growth regulators on nutrient uptake of cluster bean.

4 800 LEGUME RESEARCH - An International Journal that seed + foliar application with thiourea 500 ppm recorded maximum total P uptake which was found at par with seed + foliar application with thiourea 500 ppm during 2008 and 2009 but it was significantly higher on pooled basis. Balai and Keshwa (2011) reported that application of thiourea (1000 ppm) at vegetative and flowering stages significantly increased the N (25.6 and 27.3%) and K (25.2 and 26.0%) concentrations in seed and straw and total uptake of N, P and K as compared to water sprayed control in coriander. Solanki and Sahu (2007) reported that foliar spray of 500 ppm improved the P uptake by seed and stover of clusterbean over control. The gum of cluster bean seeds varied significantly with different cultivars and brought about significant improvement in gum content as well with the application of growth regulators (Table 3). Cultivar RGC 1017 recorded maximum gum content in seed but being at par with RGC- 1002, RGC-1003 and RGC-1017, significantly increased gum content by 15.3% over RGC-936 on pooled basis. Protein content in seed of cluster bean was not influenced significantly with the effect of varieties but foliar application of different growth regulators recorded significantly maximum protein content during both the years. Maximum protein content was recorded in seed + foliar application of thiourea (500 ppm each) followed by in seed + foliar application of TGA (100 ppm each). The chlorophyll content (mg g -1 ) in leaves among different varieties did not differ significantly. The application of growth regulators had significant influence on chlorophyll content (mg g -1 ) in leaves. Maximum chlorophyll content in leaves was found in seed + foliar application with thiourea 500 ppm during both the years and on pooled basis, which was found at par with seed + foliar application with TGA 100 ppm and significantly superior over other foliar treatments. On pooled basis, the magnitude of increase was 6.6, 7.6, 8.1, 14.7 and 24.2% higher. Sharma (2002) observed that foliar spray of 500 ppm thiourea gave maximum protein and gum content in seed. Application of thiourea as seed soaking, foliar spray and seed soaking + foliar spray (500 ppm) significantly increased the chlorophyll content, nitrogen concentration in leaf and protein content in grains (Lakhana, 2001). Shanu et al. (2013) reported that thiourea 1000 ppm seed treatment for 4 hours + thiourea 1000 ppm foliar spray at vegetative and flowering stages resulted in significant higher plant height at 90 DAS, number of branches plant -1, fresh weight of leaves plant -1, dry weight of leaves plant -1, days taken to harvest and chlorophyll content of leaves. CONCLUSIONS Different quality parameters and nutrient content and uptake were significantly influenced with cultivars and use of growth promoters. Quality parameters like gum in seed were found highest in cultivar RGC 1017, however, cultivar RGC-936 recorded higher amount of total nitrogen, Table 3: Effect of varieties and growth regulators on gum content (%), protein content (%), chlorophyll content (mg g -1 ) of cluster bean. Treatments Gum content (%) Protein content (%) Chlorophyll content (mg g -1 ) Pooled Pooled Pooled Varieties RGC RGC RGC RGC S.Em± CD (P=0.05) NS NS NS NS NS NS Growth regulators Control (Water spray) Seed treatment thiourea 500ppm Foliar application of thiourea 500ppm Seed + foliar application of thiourea (500ppm each) Seed treatment TGA 100ppm Foliar application of TGA100ppm Seed + foliar application of TGA (100ppm each) S.Em± CD (P=0.05)

5 phosphorus uptake and protein content. Use of seed + foliar application with 500 ppm was most effective with respect to nutrient content, uptake and quality Volume 39 Issue 5 (2016) 801 parameters, which was equal in response with seed + foliar application of 100 ppm and superior to rest of the treatments. REFERENCES Anonymous, (2014). Potential of Rainfed Guar (Cluster bean) Cultivation, Processing and Export in India. National Rainfed Area Authority. Planning Commission Government of India New Delhi. Arnon, D.I Copper enzymes in isolated chloroplast. I.Polyphenol oxidase in Beta vulgaris. Plant Physiol. 24 : 1 5. Balai, L.R. and Keshwa, G.L. (2011). Effect of thiourea on yield and nutrient uptake of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) varieties under normal and late sown conditions. Journal of Spices and Aromatic Crops 20: Choudhary, A.K., Pooniya, V., Bana, R.S., Kumar, A. and Singh, U. (2014). Mitigating pulse productivity constraints through phosphorus fertilization A review. Agric. Rev. 35: Das, B., Arora, S.K. and Luthura, Y.P. (1977). A rapid method of determination of gum in guar proc, First ICAR Guar Res. Workshop (Central Arid Zone Research Institute), Jodhpur, Dass, A., Shekhawat, K., Choudhary, A.K., Sepat, S., Rathore, S.S., Mahajan, G., Chauhan, B.S. (2016). Weed management in rice using crop-competition A review. Crop Prot. Doi.org/ /j.cropro Jharia, A. (2002). Effect of iron fertilization and Thiourea spray on the productivity of clusterbean [Cyamposis tetragenoloba (L.) Taub.]. M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis, Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner. Jocelyn, P.C. (1972). Biochemistry of the SH group: The occurrence, chemical properties, metabolism and biological function of thiols and disulphides. Academic Press, 57, 122. Kaur, R., Singh, K., Deol, J.S., Dass, A. and Choudhary, A.K. (2015). Possibilities of improving performance of direct seeded rice using plant growth regulators: A review. Proc. National Acad. Sci., India Sec. B: Biol. Sci. 85: Lakhana, R.C Effect of nitrogen and thiourea on growth and productivity of pearlmillet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R Br. Imend. Stuntz]. M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis, RAU, Bikaner. Lakhana, R.C., Gupta, A.K., Shivran, A.C. and Shivran, R.K. (2005). Role of thiourea in improving the dry matter partiodioning, yield and quality of pearlmillet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R Br. Imend. Stuntz]. Ann. Agric. Res. New Series, 26 : Panse, V.G. and Sukhatme, P.V. (1985). Statistical Method for Agricultural Workers, ICAR, New Delhi. Pooniya, V., Choudhary, A.K., Dass, A., Bana, R.S., Rana, K.S., Rana D.S., Tyagi, V.K. and Puniya, M.M. (2015). Improved crop management practices for sustainable pulse production: A Indian Perspective. Indian J. Agric. Sci. 85: Rana, K.S., Choudhary, A.K, Sepa,t S., Bana, R.S. and Dass, A. (2014). Methodological and Analytical Agronomy. Post Graduate School, IARI, New Delhi, pp 276. Shanu, I.S., Naruka, Singh, P.P., Shaktawat, R.P.S. and Verma, K.S Effect of seed treatment and foliar spray of thiourea on growth, yield and quality of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) under different irrigation levels. International Journal of Seed Spices, 3 : Sharma, O.P. (2002). Effect of levels and sources of sulphur in conjunction with growth substances on productivity of clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L. Taub) and their residual effect on barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in arid ecosystem. Ph.D. Thesis, MPUAT, Udaipur (Raj.). Solanki, N.S. and Sahu, M. P. (2007). Productivity and P- use efficiency of cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonaloba L.) as influenced by bio- regulators and phosphorus. Indian Journal of Agronomy, 52 :