Effect of chitosan on growth and yield of African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) under drought induced stress condition

Abstract

Chitosan acts as elicitors that helps to induce the secondary metabolites, reduce the transpiration of plants which in turn reduce the water use efficiency without affecting the dry matter production of the plants. A study was conducted to investigate the effect of foliar spray of chitosan on morphological, growth and flowering characters of African marigold under induced drought conditions. The experiment with 3 levels of water stress ie., 100 %, 70 % and 50 % field capacity and three levels of chitosan spray viz., 0 (water spray), 0.2 g L-1 and 0.4 g L-1. Among the treatments, FC1 (70% FC) with 0.2 g L-1 (C1) of chitosan improved the growth of the plants and the flowering parameters viz., diameter, weight, xanthophyll content and numbers of flowers. Interaction effects of 0.4 g L-1 of chitosan with severe stress (FC2) showed drastic reduction in growth and yield of the plants. Foliar application of chitosan helped to reduce the adverse effect of drought and improved the growth and yield of the plants.