Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Drenching aqueous extracts of seaweeds for enhancing growth, biochemical constituents and yield of Solanum melongena

Volume 60 Issue 2

K. Sreelatha, Lizzy Mathew and P. Kaladharan

10.6024/jmbai.2018.60.2.2011-05

Abstract

Seaweed liquid fertilizer prepared from aqueous extracts of red and brown seaweeds were tried on Brinjal, Solanum melongena L. under lab conditions. Basal application of aqueous extract of Sargassum wightii to Brinjal was found beneficial to boost the height of the plant, number of flowers/ plant considerably and the levels of chlorophyll pigments 27% more than the control. This increased the fruit yield exhibited by number and weight of fruits over control as well as the extract of red seaweed Grateloupia lithophila. However, extracts of G. lithophila promoted early flowering, delayed senescence of leaves of eggplant. Biochemical constituents in the treated plants such as total sugars, proteins and lipids too showed considerable increase (mg/g dry weight, P<0.001) due to application of Sargassum extract. These results enabled us to confirm that use of extracts of Sargassum as manure to crops can improve yield, save chemical fertilizers and protect soil fertility.

Keywords

Seaweed manure, basal application, crop yield, green farming, soil fertility, Solanum melongena

Date : 10-01-2019