Calcium lactate and salicylic acid foliar application influence eggplant growth and postharvest quality parameters

Abstract

Eggplant is one of the most popular and vital vegetable crops in the world. Various plant bio-regulators have been used in different crops to increase uptake of nutrients thereby leading to improvement in growth, flowering, fruit quality, storability and yield. The scope of this study was to evaluate the effects of calcium lactate and salicylic acid foliar application on growth parameters, physiological characteristics and shelf-life of eggplant fruit. Obtained results showed that the highest applied concentrations of calcium lactate (4 mM or 0.8 g l-1) and salicylic acid (1.5 mM or 0.2 g l-1) foliar application led to the highest values of measured growth parameters and yield. Applying of calcium lactate and salicylic acid foliar treatments could increase tissue firmness and ascorbic acid content of fruits. Foliar application of calcium lactate 4 mM (0.8 g l-1) and salicylic acid 1 mM (0.13 g l-1) was the best treatment to decrease percentage of fruit decay. In conclusion, our results showed that foliar application of calcium lactate and salicylic acid can be useful and inexpensive treatment to improve growth parameters, physiological characteristics and post-harvest properties of eggplant fruit

Keywords

• eggplant
• calcium sources
• chlorophyll content
• foliar spraying
• post-harvest fruit characteristics
• salicylic acid.