Physiological performance, yield and quality of crops as influenced by boron

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to assess the direct and residual effect of graded levels of boron (B) on growth, yield and quality parameters of crops in cauliflower-cowpea-okra cropping sequence. For this experimentation, cauliflower was grown as a test crop to assess the direct effect of B fertilization while cowpea and okra were grown as succeeding test crop to assess the residual effect of B fertilization. The study revealed an incremental trend in plant physiological and quality parameters corresponding to the escalating B level. Leaf area index (LAI), total chlorophyll content and NR activities in plant leaves and quality parameters, viz. ascorbic acid, protein and starch in edible portion in all crops were found significantly highest with application of 2 kg B/ha. However, on contrary starch content of the crops exhibited an inverse relationship with the higher B application rate wherein depletion of 31.7% of starch content in crops was observed with application of 2 kg B/ha over the control.

Keywords

• Boron
• Cropping sequence
• Quality
• Yield