FOLIAR APPLICATION OF BRASSINOSTEROIDS IMPROVES THE YIELD AND MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ARACHIS HYPOGAEA L., GLYCINE MAX (L.), AND PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L.

This study aimed to determine the application methods of brassinosteroids (BR) as an alternative production system to improve plant growth and morpho-physiological characteristics of dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), soya bean (Glycine max (L.)), and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Trials were laid out in a complete randomized block design, arranged in a 4 x 2 factorial design. Brassinosteroids (100 g) treatments followed preventative and corrective treatments, where the dry bean, soya bean, and groundnut (three legumes) seeds were treated with BR; BR through the foliar application, soil drenching BR, and the control (with no BR treatment). The effect time of BR treatment was two and four weeks. Results showed that BR significantly improved the yield and morpho-physiological characteristics of all legume crops in this study. The improvement of the morpho-physiological characteristics was attributed to the morphological and physiological parameters, where the increase in plant height, seedling fresh mass, seedling dry mass, root fresh mass, and root dry mass were ascribed to morphological parameters; photosynthetic and chlorophyll content parameters were ascribed to physiological parameters. Interestingly, the foliar application method was significantly (P <= 0.05) better than the control in all parameters. Thus, the results confirmed that foliar BR has the potential to improve plant growth in general.