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Broccoli is rich in vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, free from calories and fat necessary for a healthy life. The production of broccoli is poor as compared to the developed world because of different biotic and abiotic stress. The nutritional stress is increasing with the passage of time because of low soil fertility and numerous stresses occur in the root zone of plants which reduce the uptake of minerals. Therefore, the current study was conducted on the foliar application of Zn and B to enhance broccoli production with excellent nutritional properties important for human health. Foliar application of Zn + B increased the plant height, stem length, and diameter, number of leaves, leaf length and width, root fresh and dry weight, number of florets, head diameter, and weight, chlorophyll a and b, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, nitrogen and potassium concentration in leaves and head. Stem length and diameter, number of leaves, leaf length and width, root length, number of florets, head diameter, chlorophyll a, phosphorus concentration in leaves and head, and potassium n head. So, the current study improved the growth, yield, and quality of broccoli under foliar application of Zn and B alone and their mixture. It has been concluded that the production and quality of broccoli are enhanced under foliar application of different micronutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pineapple can be affected by fruit collapse, a disease caused by the bacterium Dickeya zeae. However, adequate fertilization can increase the fruit's resistance to this illness. Therefore, the impact of preharvest foliar calcium and silicon fertilization on pineapple quality and fruit collapse incidence was assessed in this study. The experiment implemented a split-plot design with two factors. The first factor has two terms of inoculation (flower induction and before harvest). The second factor uses a control with three foliar fertilization treatments, A (control: No foliar fertilizers applied), B (Ca from 13 to 11 weeks before harvest/from 6 weeks to harvest), C (Si from 13 to 11 weeks before harvest/from 6 weeks to harvest), and D (Ca + Si from 13 to 11 weeks before harvest/from 6 weeks to harvest). Treatment D gave the best response. It had the lowest fruit collapse incidence (21.70%), highest ascorbic acid (71.64 mg/kg), elevated ß-carotene (4.87 mg/kg) and mineral content (Ca: 1851.10 mg/kg, Si: 1164.87 mg/kg), essentially under the before harvest term of inoculation, which was more harmful for the fruit. In conclusion, mixed foliar calcium and silicon fertilization manage to improve the tolerance to fruit collapse incidence, impacting the pineapple quality positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of organic substances as fertilizer nutrient sources is now popularising due to over increasing risk of chemical fertilizers used in agriculture. The present field experiment was conducted at Department of Horticulture, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, U.P. (India) to assess the effect of chitosan, an alternative biological origin nutrient source and commercial urea on production of palak. The experiment was comprised of eight treatments namely Control- No fertilizer applied (T0), Recommended Dose of Fertilizer (RDF) @ 90:30:30 N P K kg/ha (T1), Chitosan @ 50 ppm (T2), @ 75 ppm (T3), @ 100 ppm (T4), @ 125 ppm (T5), @ 150 ppm (T6) and Urea @ 1% (T7) and was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The results showed that foliar application of chitosan and urea significantly influenced the growth, yield and quality of palak. The foliar application of chitosan @ 100 ppm (T4) showed significantly maximum vegetative growth, leaf yield along with better quality of leaves in terms of dry matter content, TSS and Vitamin C content. Urea @ 1% (T7) also showed close result compared to chitosan application. Hence, it will be beneficial to apply chitosan as liquid form @ 100 ppm for spinach beet under subtropical agro-climate condition of Lucknow for better growth, leaf yield and leaf quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thiamin is a crucial vitamin with a vast variety of anti-oxidative and physiological roles in plants subjected to abiotic stresses. We examined the efficiency of foliar-applied thiamin (50 and 100 mM) on growth, yield quality and key-biochemical characteristics of two cultivars (FD1 and FD3) of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.) under water-deficit stress. Water stress at the rate of 50% field capacity (F.C.) markedly decreased the plant biomass, leaf total phenolics and ascorbic acid (AsA) contents. In contrast, drought-induced increase was noted in the leaf [hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), AsA, proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), glycinebetaine (GB), total soluble proteins and oxidative defense system in terms of high activities of peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) enzymes] and the inflorescence (total phenolics, proline, GB, MDA, H2O2, and activities of SOD and CAT enzymes) characteristics of cauliflower. However, foliar-applied thiamin significantly improved growth and physio-biochemical attributes except leaf and inflorescence MDA and H2O2 contents of both cauliflower cultivars under water stress. Overall, application of thiamin enhanced the plant growth may be associated with suppressed reactive oxygen species (ROS) and upregulated antioxidants defense system of cauliflower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two field eхpеrimеnts were соnduсtеd аt the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University at "Dar El-Ramad" Fayoum Governorate, Egypt during the summer growing seasons of 2019 and 2020. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of sowing dates, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), zinc and their interaction on growth and yield of maize ( Zea mays L.). The experimental layout was a split- split plot arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications where sowing dates were considered as the main plot, ascorbic acid arranged in the sub plot and the sub-sub plot occupied by zinc foliar application treatments. Results indicated that sowing dates, ascorbic acid and zinc treatments hаd а signifiсаnt impасts оn yield and its attributes in the two seasons, except ear number per plant in two seasons and number of grains per row in the second season as well as 100 grain weight in the first season. Foliar spray of ascorbic acid treatments lеd tо signifiсаnt diffеrеnсеs in yield and its attributes i.e. number of ears/plant, ear length, ear dimeter, ear weight, number of row/ear, number of grains/row, ear grain weight, 100-grain weight and grain and biological yield/fed, as well as harvest index. The obtained data reveale also that the effect of zinc treatments on yield and its attributes was significant in the two seasons, except ear number per plant in two seasons and ear length in second season as well as number of grains/row in the first season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the importance of foliar application of macro and micro nutrients to increase the yield and quality of guava under high density planting system, an experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design consisting of nine treatment combinations with three replications. [(Control - Fertigation alone), (NPK (19:19:19)), (NPK + Zn), (NPK + Ca), (NPK + B), (NPK + Zn + Ca), (NPK + Zn + B), (NPK + Ca + B), (NPK + Zn + Ca + B). Among the treatments, fruit weight (225.22 g), fruit volume (215.35 ml), number of fruits per plant (80.35), fruit yield per plant(17.67 kg plant-1), TSS(10.60 0Brix), titratable acidity (0.196 %) and pectin content (1.31 %) was found to be significantly higher with the foliar application of NPK @ 1% + Zn @ 0.5 % + B @ 0.4%. The foliar spray of NPK @ 1% + Ca@ 0.2% + B@ 0.4% significantly increased the fruit diameter (7.85 cm), and ascorbic acid content (159.84 mg 100g-1). Thus, foliar spray of NPK, zinc and boron maintained more number of fruits per plant and improved the fruit set leading to an 18% increase in yield. Whereas, the addition of calcium to the plants increased the ascorbic acid content of the fruit and pectin that enhanced the shelf life of the fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For evaluating the response of growth and yield of lavender to ascorbic acid (0.0, 50, 100 and 150 ppm), nano-chitosan (0.0, 250, 500 and 750 ppm) and their interactions, an experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt, during the two consecutive summer seasons of 2018 and 2019. This experiment was arranged as split-plot experiment in the basis of completely randomized design with three replications. The main plots were occupied by four ascorbic acid concentrations, also, the sub plots were entitled to four nano-chitosan concentrations. Plant growth parameters as well as fresh and dry herb yield were recorded. Foliar spray with 150 ppm of ascorbic acid gave significantly higher values of growth and yield components compared to control and the other ones under study. Nano-chitosan at high concentrations (500 and 750 ppm) significantly increased all the investigated parameters compared to control. The best results were achieved by the interaction treatment between spraying with ascorbic acid at 100 ppm and nanochitosan at 750 ppm. This treatment could be used by the farmers under the same conditions because it has the most profitable rate and concentration with the greatest yield advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted during the winter season of each of 2015/2016 and 2016/ 2017 at the Experimental field, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt in order to evaluate the response of caraway growth and yield under three rates of N:P:K:Mg at 13:5:26:3 ratios/ (0.0, 2.0 and 4.0 g/l) as foliar spray and three types of antioxidants (Control, salicylic acid, vitamin C and vitamin B1 as well as their combinations). The experiment was applied by a split-plot in randomized complete block design (RCBD) arrangement with three replications. Results proved the superiority of chemical fertilization as foliar spray via enhancing yield components of caraway plants in comparing with no application. Salicylic acid (SA), vitamin B1 (Vitam.B) and vitamin C (Vitam.C) at 100 ppm of each applied three times/season showed the best results in most of the studied growth parameters (plant height, number of leaves and branches per plant, total dry weight, root dry weight and root length) and yield components (number of umbels per plant and fruit yield per plant and per faddan) as compared with control. Accordingly, this study recommends the possibility of using antioxidants treatment (SA+ Vitam.B + Vitam.C) as an improving growth performance and yield components of caraway plants under chemical fertilization rate at 2 g/l. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field trial was carried out during 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons at the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University to study the effect of foliar humic acid application at the concentrations of 0 (control), 200 and 400 ppm three times, monthly interval on growth, fruit yield, and essential oil yield and its composition of caraway (Carum carvi L.) plant. The results indicated that humic acid treatments improved the vegetative growth characteristics (plant height, branch number per plant and plant dry weight), fruit measurements (umbel number, 1000-seed weight and seed yield) and essential oil parameters (oil percentage, oil yield and oil constituents) in comparison with control plant (without humic acid). However, a rate of 400 ppm was more effective than the level of 200 ppm in this regard. Seeds of plants received 400 ppm showed the highest contents of total proein, total carbohydrates, total phenolics, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and thiamine (vitamin B1). In contrast, these seeds contained the lowest levels of nitrate and nitrite. These findings were closely correlated with increasing 1000-seed weight showing better quality. Chemical analysis of caraway leaves cleared that the maximum contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and pigment were occurred by humic acid at 400 ppm resulting in significant increases compared to 200 ppm level in most cases. It was found a positive relationship between the highest contents of leaf N, P and K and the improvement of vegetative growth and fruit characteristics, consequently increase of seed production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Foliar biostimulant application showed better results on phenolic content. • Biostimulant added to the nutrient solution showed better results on volatile content. • Yield and primary metabolism were less affected by the biostimulant in basils. Basil is susceptible to stressful conditions, of which salinity is a major problem in agriculture, causing significant yield losses. Biostimulants can be used as stress reducers and can be used for sustainable agriculture. Genovese-type 'Marian' basil and Greek-type 'Manos' basil were grown under 100 mM NaCl salt stress conditions and treated with a hydrolyzed animal protein-based biostimulant (as foliar fertilizer and via a nutrient solution). Greek basil yield was positively affected in both biostimulant treatments. The irrigated biostimulant had a positive effect on primary metabolites in Genovese-type basil. Foliar application of the biostimulant resulted in higher glucose and ascorbic acid content (+23.8% and +25.7%, respectively) compared to the salt treatment of Greek basil. Phenolic content increased in both biostimulant-treated cultivars and ranged from +73.3% to +628.9%, depending on cultivar and treatment. Volatile content was most affected by the biostimulant added to the nutrient solution and was 18.5% higher in Greek basil and 111.5% higher in Genovese basil than in the salt treatment. With the results of our study, we have laid the foundation for further studies on the internal quality of herbs and which method of biostimulant application is more suitable for basil production under salinity conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon (Si) foliar spraying techniques (17 mM Si leaf and whole plant) were applied to determine the effect of gaseous, physicochemical and microbial activities on cherry tomatoes. Whole treated tomato plant showed significantly (p = 0.05) the lowest respiration and ethylene production occurred during harvest time and after storage. The lowest fresh weight loss, fungal incidence and microbial activity were observed in whole plant treated tomatoes. In addition, the longest shelf life 24 days and the highest firmness were maintained by whole plant Si treated tomatoes. A higher vitamin C content was found in the whole Si treated tomato plants compared to Si leaf or no treated tomatoes. In addition, in the whole Si treated tomato plant showed the lowest soluble solid content by suppressing the color development. Based on the above results, whole plant Si treatment may be a useful technique to maintain respiration, ethylene production, firmness, shelf life and microbial activity of cherry tomatoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field experiment was conducted during 2010 – 2011 and 2011 – 2012 winter seasons at the Experimental Farm, Department of Field Crops, College of Agriculture University of Baghdad. RCBD design with four replications were used to study the effect of Boron and vitamin C foliar applied on yield and some it,s components of bread wheat Triticum aestivum L. cv. Abu – Ghraib-3. The experiment involved two factors ,the first was boron foliar in five concentrations 0,100, 200, 300, 400 mg L-1 the second was vitamin C foliar applied in five concentrations 0,1,2,3,4, gmL-1 at booting stage. Results of the experiment showed :300 mg B L-1 was superior in grain yield 6.726,6.771 Mg ha-1) for both seasons and some yield components ( spike number for the second season 574.9 spike m-2 , fertility 97.27% 97.34% and number of grain 66.39 , 65,22 grain spik-1 ) for both seasons . Foliar of Vitamin C with 4 gm L-1 was significantly affected grain yield (6.820 , 6.879 Mg ha-1 ) for both seasons respectively . Foliar of Vitamin C with 4 gm L-1 was significantly affected on grain yield and some it,s components (6.820 , 6.878 Mg ha-1 ) as compared to control which gave (4.882 ,4.906 Mg ha-1) for both seasons, respectively .The interaction between two factors was significant in some characters ( number of spike and grain yield ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six essential oils were evaluated as to their efficiency in controlling powdery mildew ( PM) of flax when they were applied as foliar sprays in an outdoor pot experiment. Onion, flax and fenugreek oils did not affect PM severity ratings - that is, they were ineffective in controlling the disease. On the other hand, black cumin, jojoba and coriander oil showed variable levels of efficiency in controlling the disease. Black cumin was moderately effective in controlling the disease because it reduced disease severity by 32.87%, while jojoba and coriander oils were highly effective as they reduced disease severity by 66.24 and 68.64%, respectively. Essential oils did not affect seed weight; however, coriander oil was a notable exception as it reduced seed weight by 55%. Straw weight was not affected by any oil. Foliar application of essential oils resulted in significant changes in the levels of protein, phenols, ascorbic acid and malondialdehyde and in activities of peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase. The lack of significant correlation between levels and activities of these biochemical components and PM severity demonstrate that these components are not involved in the suppression of PM by essential oils. Therefore, direct toxicity of essential oils to the causal pathogen Oidium lini is the most likely explanation for the disease suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies were conducted on the influence of pre harvest sprays on the physiological and biochemical changes of bhendi fruits (Cv. Arka Anamika) under storage. The response of bhendi fruits to preharvest spray on physiological loss in weight, ascorbic acid, crude fibre content and fruit freshness score were assessed. Among the pre-harvest spray of chemicals, CaCl2 (0.5%) has extended the shelf life of fruit for 10 days as against the control which started decaying from 6 day onwards. Similar trend was also observed for GA3 spray. A pre-harvest spray of 0.5 per cent CaCl2 decreased the ascorbic content from 7.12 (Day 2) to 2.02 (Day 10). This trend of response was not seen in GA3 treated fruits which decayed within 6 days after storage and behaved similar to control plants. In contrast to the ascorbic content, the crude fibre progressively increased with the advancement of storage period both in control and GA3 sprayed fruits which had increased the fibre content slightly that coincides with the extention of storage within 6 days. The treatment that has received preharvest foliar spray of 0.5 per cent CaCl2 (T6) had maintain higher score for an extended period of storage for 10 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study effect of ascorbic acid foliar application on morphological traits, yield and yield components of grain corn under conditions of water stress, an experiment was conducted in Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran in 2006 growing season. Experimental design was RCBD (Randomized Complete Block Design) and treatments were sat in split-split plot arrangement. Water deficit stress treatment with three levels (no stress, vegetative phase stress and reproductive phase stress) was allocated to main plots. Ascorbic acid was used at two time (vegetative phase and reproductive phase) and four concentration (0, 50, 100 and 150 mgl-1) as sub plots and sub-sub plots, respectively. The results demonstrated that water deficit stress and ascorbic acid foliar application had significant effect on upon traits. Water deficit stress significantly decreased dry or fresh weight of plants at two growing phases, but leaf area was just decreased due to water deficit stress at vegetative phase. Regarding yield and yield components, a significant decrease was observed when plants were water stressed. It's notable that final yield was more affected when plants were stressed at reproductive phase than those were stressed at vegetative phase. Ascorbic acid foliar application increased stem and leaf dry weight and leaf fresh weight. In addition, an increase was observed in grain weight when plants were treated by 150 mgl-1 ascorbic acid at two growing phases and no stress and vegetative stress. The highest infertile grains were observed in reproductive stress and without ascorbic acid plots while ascorbic acid foliar application led to increase of grain fertility. In general, these results suggests that ascorbic acid foliar application decreases adverse effects of water deficit stress and improves growth and production at normal and stressed conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, 5μM ABA and GA3 concentration were used to study the effect of these growth regulators on the andrographolide content and antioxidant potentials of Andrographis paniculata. The growth regulators were applied by means of foliar spray during morning hours. A significant enhancement in non-enzymatic antioxidant contents was observed in all sampling days in A. paniculata plants under ABA and GA3 treatments. Ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol content was increased significantly under the growth regulator treatments in leaves, stem and roots of A. paniculata. The activities of antioxidant enzymes such as ascorbate peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase were increased by ABA and GA3 treatments in the leaves, stem and roots of A. paniculata plants. The HPLC analysis was used to quantify the andrographolide content in control and growth regulator treated plants. The growth regulators ABA and GA3 treated plants showed increased contents of andrographolide when compared to control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Field studies were conducted from 2002 to 2005 to evaluate foliar spray of Atonik (a plant growth regulator (PGR) containing nitrophenolates) on cotton boll abscission rate by assessing various reactive oxygen species (ROS) contents, antioxidant content and antioxidant enzyme activity from 1 to 9 days after anthesis (DAA). The result indicated that the nitrophenolate spray reduced hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anion (O2 −) accumulation, lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde – MDA), lipoxygenase (LOX) activity and membrane permeability relative to the control. Antioxidant enzyme activity (superoxide dismutase, SOD; ascorbate peroxidase, APX; peroxidase, POX; glutathione peroxidase, GSH-Px) was significantly increased by the nitrophenolate spray. The POX (217%) and GSH-Px (242%) activities were enhanced compared with APX (7.7%) activity at 9 DAA. Enhanced accumulation of ascorbate (245%), phenol (253%) and proline (150%) was observed in nitrophenolate-sprayed plants compared with control at 9 DAA. Because ascorbate content is increased by higher dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) enzyme activity, the ascorbate was able to replenish reducing equivalents to phenoxyl radicals, resulting in an increase of phenolic compounds. The increased phenolic acid content may be involved in scavenging the ROS produced in developing cotton boll. The role of DHAR and glutathione reductase (GR) in keeping higher levels of reduced ascorbate and low levels of endogenous H2O2 in the developing cotton boll may be the prerequisite for boll retention. Based on the present work, we conclude that nitrophenolate-sprayed plants counteracted the deleterious effects of ROS by the peroxide/phenolics/ascorbate system, which causes reduced boll abscission and increased yield. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pot experiments conducted in a growth chamber studied the effectiveness of foliar fertilization of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) with macro- and microelements in the form of a 1% water solution of Insol U fertilizer applied with fluorescent light of the PAR intensity of 200 μmol m-2 s-1 and with dispersed daylight of the intensity of 600 μmol m-2 s-1. Insol U was applied three times, supplied on the upper, lower or both sides of the leaf blades. The control consisted of plants sprayed with distilled water. The obtained results pointed out that foliar fertilization of spinach with Insol U significantly increased the leaf gas exchange, the yield of the fresh leaf mass, the content of vitamin C, chlorophyll, carotenoids, as well as potassium and phosphorus in the leaves. The application of the fertilizer onto the upper and the lower side of the leaf blade had the most positive effect on the analysed property of the leaves. Independently of the side leaf, the application of the fertilizer at a higher light intensity had a significantly better consecutive effect on all the analysed properties of the leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pot experiments conducted in a growth chamber studied the effectiveness of foliar fertilization of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) with macro- and microelements in the form of a 1% water solution of Insol U fertilizer applied with fluorescent light of the PAR intensity of 200 μmol m-2 s-1 and with dispersed daylight of the intensity of 600 μmol m-2 s-1. Insol U was applied three times, supplied on the upper, lower or both sides of the leaf blades. The control consisted of plants sprayed with distilled water. The obtained results pointed out that foliar fertilization of spinach with Insol U significantly increased the leaf gas exchange, the yield of the fresh leaf mass, the content of vitamin C, chlorophyll, carotenoids, as well as potassium and phosphorus in the leaves. The application of the fertilizer onto the upper and the lower side of the leaf blade had the most positive effect on the analysed property of the leaves. independently of the side leaf, the application of the fertilizer at a higher light intensity had a significantly better consecutive effect on all the analysed properties of the leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]