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Morphological and physiological response of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to natural and synthetic cytokinin sources: a comparative study

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Abstract

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. Foliage-applied 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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Acknowledgments

This research article is part of a PhD thesis. The authors are grateful to the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan, for providing financial support for this research work under the Indigenous PhD Fellowship Scheme Batch-IV.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

    Azra Yasmeen & Nazim Hussain

  2. Department of Forestry & Range Management, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

    Wasif Nouman

  3. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Shahzad Maqsood Ahmed Basra,  Hafeez-ur-Rehman & Irfan Afzal

  4. Department of Botany, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Abdul Wahid

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  1. Azra Yasmeen
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  2. Wasif Nouman
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  3. Shahzad Maqsood Ahmed Basra
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  4. Abdul Wahid
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  5. Hafeez-ur-Rehman
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  6. Nazim Hussain
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  7. Irfan Afzal
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Correspondence to Azra Yasmeen.

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Communicated by A. Gniazdowska-Piekarska.

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Yasmeen, A., Nouman, W., Basra, S.M.A. et al. Morphological and physiological response of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to natural and synthetic cytokinin sources: a comparative study. Acta Physiol Plant 36, 3147–3155 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-014-1662-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-014-1662-1

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