Biochemical, morphological and reproductive growth response of fenugreek to foliar application of glycine betaine and salicylic acid

Foliar application effects of different levels of salicylic acid phrasing (SA: 0, 75, 150 and 300 mu m) and glycine betaine (GB: 0, 50, 100 and 150 mg.l(-1)) were investigated on pigments, phenolic compounds and total antioxidants content as well as some vegetative and reproductive growth indices of fenugreek under greenhouse condition. The amounts of plant height, leaf dry weight, pod length, the number of seed per pod, pod weight, 1000-grain weight, leaf nitrogen, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total phenol content and total antioxidant content increased significantly by spraying with 150 mu M of SA, when compared with the control treatment. Exogenous application of 150 mg.l(-1) GB had an increasing effect on all studied traits in fenugreek. Plant height, leaf dry weight, root dry weight and stem dry weightwere found to be 21, 15, 31 and 24% higher than found in the control treatment. In addition, the number of lateral branches (4.6 vs. 6.3), pod length (9.5 vs. 12.2 cm), the number of pod per plant (13.3 vs. 25), number of seed per pod (14.6 vs. 17.6), 1000-grain weight (15.8 vs 18.4 g), leaf nitrogen content (1.8 vs 3.0 %), chlorophyll a (1.1 vs 1.4 mg.g(-1) FW), total phenol content (45 vs 60 mg.100g FW-1) and total antioxidant content (45.6 vs 56.6%) in the highest level of GB was found to be significantly higher than in the control treatment.