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Indian Journal of Agronomy 60 (3): 464__470 (September 2015) Research Paper
Effect of sowing time, varieties and plant growth regulators on growth,
physiological indices and productivity of coriander (Coriandrum sativum)
B.R. KURI1, N.L. JAT2, A.C. SHIVRAN3, Y.S. SAHARAWAT4, R.S. BANA5 AND R.S. DADARWAL6
Sri Karan Narendra, College of Agriculture, Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University,
Jobner, Rajasthan 303 329
Received : March 2015; Revised accepted : July 2015
ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted during winter (rabi) seasons of 2011–12 and 2012–13 at Agronomy Farm,
Jobner, Rajasthan, to study the response of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) varieties to plant-growth regulators
under normal and late-sown conditions grown on irrigated loamy sand soil of semi-arid Eastern Plains Zone of
Rajasthan. The experiment consisting of 2 sowing times (normal in the first week of November and late sown in
the third week of November), 3 varieties (‘RCr 41’, ‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr 480’) and 5 plant-growth regulators (PGR),
i.e. control (water sprayed), triacontanol @ 1,000 ppm, brassinolide @ 1 ppm, thiourea @ 1,000 ppm and naph-
thalene acetic acid (NAA) @ 50 ppm at 40 and 70 days after sowing (DAS) making 30 treatment combinations,
were replicated thrice in split a plot design, keeping dates of sowing and varieties in main-plots and PGR treat-
ments in subplots. The crop sown at normal sowing time showed significantly higher values of the growth param-
eters and physiological indices and seed yield (1.48 t/ha), stover yield (2.20 t/ha) and net returns ( 32,810/ha)
than the late-sown crop. Variety ‘RCr 435’, being at par with ‘RCr 480’, showed significantly higher growth and bet-
ter physiological indices at all the growth stages. However, the highest seed (1.37 t/ha) and stover (2.03 t/ha)
yields and net returns ( 28,478/ha) were obtained from ‘RCr 480’ coriander. Foliar spray of 1,000 ppm thiourea
significantly increased the crop growth at all the stages/phases over other PGRs and remained at par with
triacontanol. However, foliar spray of 1,000 ppm triacontanol significantly increased the seed (1.40 t/ha) and sto-
ver (2.12 t/ha) yields and net returns ( 30,020/ha) as compared to the other PGRs, while it was at par with
brassinolide.
Key words : Coriander, PGRs, Physiological indices, Sowing time, Varieties, Yield
Based on part of Ph.D. thesis of the first author, submitted to SKN
College of Agriculture (SKRAU), Jobner, Rajasthan during 2014
(Unpublished)
1Corresponding author Email: agro.brk@gmail.com,
rsbana@gmail.com
1Ph.D. Scholar; 2,3Professor, Department of Agronomy; 4Country
Manager (Afghanistan), ICARDA-INDIA, NASC Complex, Pusa
Campus, New Delhi 110 012; 5Scientist, Division of Agronomy,
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012; 6Scien-
tist, Regional Research Station, (CCSHAU) Bawal Rewari, Haryana
123 501
Coriander is one of the most important seed spice with
respect to export and foreign exchange earnings in India
(Peter et al., 2006). It is an established fact that a crop
when sown at optimum time is able to exploit the environ-
mental factors most favourably. In Rajasthan, temperature
starts rising by February onwards coinciding with the time
of late flowering and grain-filling stage, coupled with soil-
moisture stress which lead to low productivity of corian-
der. It is largely assumed that the rise in temperature dur-
ing terminal reproductive stage of coriander is the major
cause of reduction in seed yield under late-sown condi-
tions. A late-sown crop produces shrivelled grains as com-
pared to early sowing leading to low yield. For the rea-
sons, if the crop is not sown at normal sowing time, pos-
sibilities to enhance the productivity under late-sown con-
ditions is to be explored. Use of some chemicals like
triacontanol (a long-chain aliphatic alcohol-based plant-
growth regulator) has been reported to induce physiologi-
cal efficiencies including photosynthetic ability of plants
which resulted in better growth and yield of agronomic
crops without substantial increase in cost of production
(Jain et al., 1988). Thiourea is a sulphydral compound
which contains one-SH group and has been known to
bring marked biological activity in plants. Use of thiourea
as plant-growth regulator may be helpful in this regard
(Sahu and Solanki, 1991). Foliar spray of thiourea not only
improves growth and development of plants, but also the
September 2015] EFFECT OF SOWING TIME, VARIETIES AND PGR ON CORIANDER 465
dry-matter partitioning for increased grain yield.
Brassinosteroids are a new group of plant hormones with
growth-promoting activity (Mandava, 1988).
Brassinosteroids improve the resistance in plant against
environmental stresses such as water, salinity, low and
high temperature stresses and it also enhances the crop
productivity (Rao et al., 2002). Application of naphthalic
acitic acid (NAA) is known to induce higher physiologi-
cal efficiency including photosynthetic ability of plants.
Coriander variety ‘RCr 41’ is an important variety of
Rajasthan covering large area and is recommended for
normal sowing time. However, the early growth of variety
is very slow and the maturity generally coincides with high
temperature. Similarly, varieties ‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr 480’
is also covers a large area in the state. It has been reported
that the productivity of these varieties has come to stagnate
with prevailing management practices. Therefore, it was
felt necessary to look for the use of PGRs to break the
yield stagnation of these important varieties and its differ-
ential effect in term of yield and quality under normal and
late-sown conditions. Hence present investigation was
carried out to exploit genetic yield potential of the crop to
the economic maxima with low-cost technology, time of
sowing, varieties and application of plant-growth regula-
tors.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A field experiment was conducted during the winter
(rabi) seasons of 2011–12 and 2012–13 at the Agronomy
farm, Jobner, (27º05' N, 75° 28' E, 427 m above the mean
sea-level). The soil of the experiment field was loamy sand
(80.7% sand, 10.9% silt and 8.3% clay), alkaline in reac-
tion (pH 8.2). The soil was low in organic carbon (0.17%),
available nitrogen (128.7 kg/ha), medium in available
phosphorus (14.6 kg/ha) and available potassium (148.6
kg/ha). The maximum and minimum temperature during
the crop-growing season was 32.9 and 1.9ºC during 2011–
12 and 34.2 and 0.5°C during 2012–13 respectively. The
total rainfall received during the crop growing season of
2011–12 and 2012–13 was 3.0 and 34.2 mm respectively.
The experiment consisting of 2 sowing times (normal:
in the first week of November and late: in the third week
of November), 3 varieties (‘RCr 41’, ‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr
480’) and 5 plant-growth regulators, i.e. control (water
sprayed), triacontanol @ 1,000 ppm, brassinolide @ 1
ppm, thiourea @ 1,000 ppm and naphthalene acetic acid
(NAA) @ 50 ppm at 40 and 70 days after sowing (DAS),
making 30 treatment combinations, replicated thrice in a
split-plot design, keeping dates of sowing and varieties in
main-plots and PGR treatments in subplots. The seeds of
coriander varieties seed were sown as per treatments un-
der normal and late sowing in the first and third week of
November in both the years. Two foliar sprays of
triacontanol @ 1,000 ppm, brassinolide @ 1 ppm, thiourea
@ 1,000 ppm and NAA @ 50 ppm were done at 40 and 70
DAS.
The coriander seeds were split into 2 halves and treated
with bavistin @ 2 g/kg seed. The sowing was done, in
rows at 30 cm apart, behind the hand plough with a seed
rate of 12 kg/ha keeping 2–3 cm depth. A uniform dose of
60 kg N, 40 kg P2O5 and 20 kg K2O /ha was applied in all
plots. Entire quantity of P and K and half dose of N were
applied at the time of sowing and the remaining nitrogen
was applied in 2 equal splits–at third and fourth irriga-
tions. All recommended practices were followed during
crop-growing season. Eight irrigations were applied dur-
ing crop-growing season in both the years. Coriander va-
rieties were grown as per sowing time and harvested on 22
March and 20 March during 2012 and 2013 respectively.
The physiological indices were calculated. The crop-
growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR), leaf-area
ratio (LAR), net assimilation rate (NAR) and leaf-area
duration (LAD) were calculated using standard formula,
(Radford, 1967).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect of sowing times
The normal-sown crop recorded significantly higher
plant height, branches/plant and dry-matter/plant at all the
stages over the late sown one. The normal-sown crop in-
creased the plant height by 5.5, 20.1, 17.3 and 23.1% at
30, 60, 90 DAS and at harvesting, 37.8 and 38.9% of
branches/plant at 90 DAS and at harvesting and 23.3,
14.5, 37.9 and 27.7% of dry-matter at 30, 60, 90 DAS and
at harvest, respectively, over late-sown crop (Table 1). The
normal-sown crop also had significantly higher chloro-
phyll content of the leaves, ultimately leading to higher
contribution of photosynthates to leaves (Table 4). The
increase in crop duration as well as overall growth and
vigour of the crop by normal sowing seems to be on ac-
count of exposure of plants to many favourable climatic
conditions. While under late sowing, prevalence of low
temperature at early stage and high temperature at termi-
nal phase of the crop might have adversely (forced matu-
rity) affected the growth of each developing structure.
Hornok (1976) also observed that low temperature at the
time of emergence caused slow germination of coriander.
Balai and Keshwa (2010) also reported similar results in
coriander crop due to dates of sowing.
The normal-sown crop recorded significantly higher
mean leaf-area index (LAI), crop-growth rate (CGR), rela-
tive growth rate (RGR), leaf-area ratio (LAR), net assimi-
lation rate (NAR) and leaf-area duration (LAD) (Tables 2
and 3) almost at all the stages/phases than late-sown crop.
466 KURI ET AL. [Vol. 60, No. 3
However, late-sown crop showed significantly higher
mean RGR at 90 DAS to harvest and NAR at 30–60 DAS
as compared to normal-sown crop. The normal-sown crop
represented an increase of 16.4, 55.3 and 37.4% of mean
LAI at 30, 60 and 90 DAS; 23.2, 14.0, 42.0 and 11.8% of
mean CGR at 0–30 DAS, 30–60 DAS, 60–90 DAS and 90
DAS to harvest; 9.9% of mean RGR at 60–90 DAS, 38.6
and 5.5% of mean LAR at 30–60 and 60–90 DAS; and
54.3 and 41.6% of mean LAD at 30–60 DAS and 60–90
DAS, respectively, over late-sown crop. It indicates that in
normal-sown crop, the capability of the levels was more to
produce dry weight as compared to late-sown crop. The
improvement in these growth indices might have contrib-
uted to higher biomass at harvest when crop was sown at
normal sowing date over late sowing. The normal-sown
crop also showed significantly higher chlorophyll content
of the leaves, ultimately leading to higher contribution of
photosynthates to leaves. These results corroborate the
finding of Meena et al. (2006).
Significantly higher seed and stover yields were ob-
served under normal-sown crop and represented an in-
creased 32.1 and 26.4% of seed and stover yields over
late-sown crop (Table 4). This might be owing to
favourable environmental conditions available to the crop
during its initial growth, flowering and fruiting stages. The
possible reason for low yield in delayed sowing might be
due to insufficient time for vegetative growth as the plant
entered the reproductive phase at a faster rate. The cumu-
lative effect of higher values of yield attributes led to pro-
duction of higher yield under normal-sown crop. It is an
established fact that sink capacity largely governs crop
productivity (Evans, 1975). It was because of the fact that
optimum sowing time resulted in higher growth param-
eters, improved the yield-attributing characters and hence
improved the seed and stover yield or in other words yield
is a function of yield attributes. These results corroborate
the findings of Meena et al. (2006), who noted higher
yield under normal-sown crop.
Planting of coriander at normal-sown conditions re-
sulted significantly higher net returns as compared to late-
sown conditions (Table 4). The normal-sown crop fetched
significantly higher net returns than late-sown crop. The
higher seed yield obtained under this treatment and simi-
lar cost of cultivation as late-sown conditions resulted in-
creased net returns under normal-sown crop. These results
confirm the findings of Balai and Keshwa (2010).
Response of varieties
Variety ‘RCr 435’ being at par with ‘RCr 480’, pro-
duced significantly better plant growth parameters over
‘RCr 41’ and the increase of 19.5 and 22.1% branches/
plant at 90 DAS and at harvesting; 18.4, 15.3, 17.7 and
Ta bl e 1. Effect of sowing time, varieties and plant-growth regulators on plant height, branches/plant and dry-matter accumulation of corian-
der (pooled data of 2 years)
Treatm ent Plant he ight (cm ) Number of Dry-matter accumulation (g)/plant
30 60 90 At branches/plant 30 60 90 At
DAS DAS DAS harvesting 90 At DAS DAS DAS harvesting
DAS harvesting
Sowing time
Normal 3.85 13.84 81.71 100.83 5.91 7.14 0.0553 1.018 7.89 11.90
Late 3.65 11.52 69.67 81.89 4.29 5.14 0.0449 0.889 5.73 9.32
SEm+ 0.03 0.12 0.68 0.98 0.05 0.06 0.0005 0.009 0.08 0.11
CD (P=0.05) 0.09 0.35 2.01 2.88 0.15 0.17 0.0014 0.027 0.23 0.32
Va r i e t i e s
‘RCr 41’ 3.64 11.79 80.33 99.63 4.47 5.30 0.0451 0.873 6.16 9.69
‘RCr 435’ 3.83 13.29 74.45 88.67 5.34 6.47 0.0534 1.007 7.25 11.23
‘RCr 480’ 3.77 12.97 72.29 85.77 5.49 6.65 0.0518 0.981 7.02 10.92
SEm± 0.04 0.15 0.84 1.20 0.06 0.07 0.0006 0.011 0.10 0.13
CD (P=0.05) 0.11 0.43 2.46 3.52 0.18 0.21 0.0017 0.033 0.28 0.39
Plant growth regulators
Control 3.72 11.33 67.04 79.19 3.92 4.77 0.0493 0.880 5.61 8.81
Triacontano l @ 1, 000 ppm 3.72 13.31 79.61 96.38 5.68 6.81 0.0498 0.991 7.29 11.37
Brassinolide @ 1 ppm 3.77 12.51 74.67 89.36 5.01 6.02 0.0507 0.942 6.98 10.81
Thiourea @ 1,000 ppm 3.81 13.39 81.23 99.44 5.72 6.91 0.0510 1.009 7.33 11.47
NAA @ 50 ppm 3.72 12.88 75.92 92.44 5.16 6.20 0.0498 0.947 6.86 10.61
SEm± 0.04 0.14 0.82 1.17 0.07 0.07 0.0008 0.011 0.08 0.13
CD (P=0.05) NS 0.41 2.29 3.29 0.19 0.20 NS 0.030 0.24 0.36
DAS, Days after sowing; NAA, naphthalic acitic acid; ppm, parts per million
September 2015] EFFECT OF SOWING TIME, VARIETIES AND PGR ON CORIANDER 467
15.9% dry-matter accumulation/plant at 30, 60, 90 DAS
and at harvesting, respectively, over ‘RCr 41’ respectively
(Table 1). However, at later stages, the plant height was
significantly increased under variety ‘RCr 41’ by 12.4 and
16.2% over ‘RCr 480’ and 7.9 and 11.1% over ‘RCr 435’
at 90 DAS and at harvesting, respectively. The varieties
‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr 480’ also showed significantly higher
chlorophyll content of the leaves at 75 DAS (Table 4) due
to genotypic characters of the variety. It is an established
fact that growth, development and yield potential of crop/
variety is an outcome of genomic, environmental and ag-
ronomic interactions. Since these varieties were grown
under identical agronomic management practices and en-
vironmental condition, the observed variation in overall
growth of varieties seems to be due to their genetic milieu.
The better growth of ‘RCr 435’ than the other varieties
was also observed at Jobner (Balai and Keshwa, 2010).
Among these varieties, ‘RCr 435’, being at par with
‘RCr 480’, recorded significantly higher growth indices
than ‘RCr 41’ (Tables 2 and 3). Variety ‘RCr 435’ repre-
sented an increase of 15.6, 33.8 and 19.4% of mean LAI
at 30, 60 and 90 DAS; 18.1, 15.3, 18.0 and 13.0% of mean
CGR at 0–30, 30–60, 60–90 DAS and 90 DAS harvest;
22.4% of mean LAR at 30–60 DAS, 33.4 and 23.8% at
30–60 and 60–90 DAS, respectively over ‘RCr 41’. These
varieties could not bring any significant variation in mean
RGR of coriander at all the growth phases and mean LAR
at 60–90 days phase. However, variety ‘RCr 41’ recorded
significantly higher mean NAR at 30–60 and 60–90 DAS
over ‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr 480’ and represented an increase
of 10.1 and 9.8% at 30–60 DAS phase and 4.7 and 4.7%
at 60–90 DAS, respectively, over ‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr
480’. The significant increase in biomass production un-
der varieties ‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr 480’ could be ascribed to
its higher branching potential, which might have facili-
tated larger canopy development thus, LAI. The improve-
ment in these growth parameters might be owing to more
interception and absorption of radiant energy, resulting in
greater photosynthesis and finally dry-matter accumula-
tion. Varieties ‘RCr 435’ and ‘RCr 480’ also had signifi-
cantly higher chlorophyll content in the leaves at 75 DAS
(Table 4) owing to genotypic character of the variety.
These results confirm the findings of Balai (2005) in co-
riander.
It was observed that seed and stover yields were signifi-
cantly higher with variety ‘RCr 480’ than ‘RCr 41’ and
showed an increase of 14.2 and 8.0% of seed and stover
yields but remained at par with ‘RCr 435’ (Table 4). Co-
riander yield formation is a complex process and governed
by interaction between source (photosynthesis and avail-
Ta bl e 2. Effect of sowing time, varieties and plant-growth regulators on leaf-area index, crop-growth rate and relative growth rate of corian-
der (pooled data of 2 years)
Treatment Leaf-area index Crop-growth rate (g/m2/day) Relative-growth rate (mg/g/day)
30 60 90 0–30 30–60 60–90 90 30–60 60–90 90
DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS DAS- DAS DAS DAS-
harvesting harvesting
Sowing time
Normal 0.0263 1.449 3.93 0.0615 1.069 7.64 4.46 87.4 61.3 12.3
Late 0.0226 0.933 2.86 0.0499 0.938 5.38 3.99 89.6 55.8 14.6
SEm± 0.0003 0.014 0.03 0.0005 0.009 0.07 0.04 0.8 0.6 0.1
CD (P=0.05) 0.0009 0.040 0.09 0.0016 0.028 0.19 0.12 NS 1.7 0.4
Variet i e s
‘RCr 41’ 0.0224 0.985 3.04 0.0502 0.919 5.88 3.91 88.9 58.2 13.7
‘RCr 435’ 0.0259 1.318 3.63 0.0593 1.060 6.94 4.42 88.2 58.8 13.3
‘RCr 480’ 0.0251 1.270 3.53 0.0575 1.032 6.71 4.33 88.3 58.6 13.4
SEm± 0.0004 0.017 0.04 0.0007 0.012 0.08 0.05 1.0 0.7 0.2
CD (P=0.05) 0.0010 0.049 0.11 0.0019 0.034 0.24 0.14 NS NS NS
Plant growth regulators
Control 0.0240 0.945 2.65 0.0548 0.922 5.25 3.56 86.6 55.2 13.7
Triacontanol @ 1,000 ppm 0.0242 1.329 3.77 0.0553 1.045 7.00 4.53 89.9 59.6 13.5
Brassinolide @ 1 ppm 0.0245 1.121 3.37 0.0563 0.990 6.71 4.25 87.8 59.8 13.3
Thiourea @ 1,000 ppm 0.0251 1.382 3.91 0.0567 1.064 7.02 4.60 89.7 59.2 13.6
NAA @ 50 ppm 0.0246 1.178 3.30 0.0553 0.996 6.56 4.17 88.5 59.1 13.3
SEm± 0.0004 0.020 0.05 0.0006 0.011 0.08 0.05 1.0 0.7 0.2
CD (P=0.05) NS 0.058 0.15 NS 0.032 0.22 0.14 2.9 1.9 NS
DAS, Days after sowing; NAA, naphthalic acitic acid; ppm, parts per million
468 KURI ET AL. [Vol. 60, No. 3
ability of assimilates in leaves etc.) and sink component
(storage organs). Thus, as a consequence of marked im-
provement in both these regulative process as evident from
higher accumulation of biomass and nutrients as well as
yield components in varieties ‘RCr 480’ and ‘RCr 435’ led
to significant increase in seed yield. Further, the seed yield
of coriander is dependent on 2 most important compo-
nents, namely umbels/plant and seeds/umbel. Thus, owing
to more number of seeds by virtue of increased number of
umbels/plant, seeds/umbel and test weight under ‘RCr
480’ and ‘RCr 435’ might have increased the seed yield
over ‘RCr 41’. The marked variation in various yield com-
ponents and yield between these varieties ‘RCr 480’, ‘RCr
435’ and ‘RCr 41’ was also observed under multilocation
trials conducted under AICRP on Spices (Balai and
Keshwa, 2010; AICRPS, 2011). Variety ‘RCr 480’ gave
significantly higher net returns than ‘RCr 41’ and ‘RCr
435’. Despite the same cost of cultivation for these variet-
ies, the higher seed yield recorded under variety ‘RCr 480’
has led to increased net returns as compared to ‘RCr 435’
and ‘RCr 41’. These results also support by the findings of
Balai and Keshwa (2010).
Effect of plant-growth regulators
Foliar application of PGRs significantly increased the
growth parameters, viz. plant height, branches/plant, dry
matter accumulation/plant and total chlorophyll content of
leaves over the control (Table 1). Foliar spray of 1,000
ppm thiourea remained at par with 1,000 ppm triacontanol
and significantly enhanced the plant height by 18.2, 7.0
and 4.0% at 60 DAS; 21.2, 8.8 and 7.0% at 90 DAS; and
25.6, 11.3 and 7.6% at harvest; branches/plant by 45.9,
14.2 and 10.8% at 90 DAS and 44.9, 14.8 and 11.5% at
harvest; and dry-matter accumulation/plant by 14.6, 6.5
and 7.1% at 60 DAS, 30.7, 6.8 and 5.0% at 90 DAS and
30.2, 8.1 and 6.1% at harvest stages over the control,
brassinolide and NAA respectively. While brassinolide
significantly increased the plant height, branches/plant and
dry-matter accumulation over the control and remained at
par with NAA. All the PGRs significantly increased the
total chlorophyll content in leaves at 75 DAS compared to
control, but highest was recorded under thiourea 1,000
ppm. The favourable effect of thiourea on plant growth
might be due to improved photosynthetic efficiency. The
positive action of thiourea on growth could be ascribed
due to one or a number of reasons. It might be due to the
change in the metabolites present in the seedlings as a re-
sult of changed activity of hydrolytic enzymes and change
in the oxidation mechanism, especially those concerned
with electron transport (Poljakoff-Mayber et al., 1958).
These results also support the findings of Meena et al.
(2014) in coriander.
Ta bl e 3. Effect of sowing time, varieties and plant growth regulators on leaf-area ratio, net assimilation rate and leaf-area duration of corian-
der (pooled data of 2 years)
Treatm ent Leaf- area r atio ( cm2/g) Net assimilation rate Leaf-area duration (days)
30–60 DAS 60–90 DAS (g/m2 leaf area /day) 30–60 DAS 60–90 DAS
30–60 DAS 60–90 DAS
Sowing time
Normal 229.4 224.4 3.27 3.22 22.1 80.7
Late 165.5 212.6 4.12 3.24 14.3 57.0
SEm± 1.8 2.1 0.04 0.03 0.2 0.6
CD (P=0.05) 5.4 6.1 0.11 NS 0.5 1.9
Va r i e t i e s
‘RCr 41’ 173.3 215.8 3.93 3.33 15.1 60.3
‘RCr 435’ 212.1 221.9 3.57 3.18 20.2 74.7
‘RCr 480’ 207.1 217.9 3.58 3.18 19.4 71.5
SEm± 2.3 2.5 0.04 0.04 0.2 0.8
CD (P=0.05) 6.6 NS 0.13 0.11 0.6 2.3
Plant growth regulators
Control 166.8 194.4 4.00 3.24 14.5 53.9
Triacontano l @ 1, 000 ppm 216.1 230.1 3.52 3.13 20.3 76.4
Brassinolide @ 1 ppm 188.6 220.6 3.77 3.40 17.2 67.4
Thiourea @ 1,000 ppm 221.5 236.9 3.48 3.05 21.1 79.3
NAA @ 50 ppm 194.6 210.6 3.70 3.34 18.0 67.1
SEm± 2.3 2.5 0.04 0.04 0.2 0.8
CD (P=0.05) 6.4 7.0 0.12 0.11 0.6 2.2
DAS, Days after sowing; NAA, naphthalic acitic acid; ppm, parts per million
September 2015] EFFECT OF SOWING TIME, VARIETIES AND PGR ON CORIANDER 469
Ta bl e 4. Effect of sowing time, varieties and plant-growth regulators on chlorophyll content, yields and net returns (pooled data of 2 years)
Treatment Total chlorophyll content Yield (t/ha) Net returns
at 75 DAS (mg/g) Seed Stover ( /ha)
Sowing time
Normal 2.46 1.48 2.20 32,810
Late 2.13 1.12 1.74 18,652
SEm± 0.03 0.02 0.02 317
CD (P=0.05) 0.08 0.04 0.07 933
Variet i e s
‘RCr 41’ 2.16 1.20 1.88 21,597
‘RCr 435’ 2.40 1.34 2.03 27,118
‘RCr 480’ 2.32 1.37 2.03 28,478
SEm± 0.03 0.02 0.03 388
CD (P=0.05) 0.09 0.05 0.08 1,142
Plant growth regulators
Control 2.09 1.15 1.77 21,020
Tricontanol @ 1,0 00 ppm 2.32 1.40 2.12 30,020
Brassinolide @ 1 ppm 2.34 1.38 2.06 25,660
Thiourea @ 1,000 ppm 2.40 1.29 2.00 26,285
NAA @ 50 ppm 2.30 1.28 1.89 25,670
SEm± 0.04 0.02 0.03 345
CD (P=0.05) 0.10 0.05 0.07 969
DAS, Days after sowing; NAA, naphthalic acitic acid; ppm, parts per million
Growth indices of coriander were significantly influ-
enced by application of plant-growth regulators (Tables 2
and 3). Foliar spray of 1,000 ppm thiourea, being at par
with triacontanol, significantly increased mean LAI at 60
and 90 DAS, CGR at 30–60, 60–90 DAS and 90 DAS to
harvest and mean LAR at 30–60 and 60–90 DAS as com-
pared to control, NAA and brassinolide. However, foliar
application of all PGRs significantly increased the mean
RGR at 30–60 and 60–90 DAS compared to the control
and remained at par with each other, and maximum mean
RGR was recorded under thiourea. Water-sprayed control
brought significant improvement in mean NAR as com-
pared to all the PGR treatments at 30–60 DAS. Among the
PGRs, foliar application of brassinolide, being at par with
NAA, significantly increased the mean NAR at 30–60
DAS over triacontanol and thiourea. However, at 60–90
DAS foliar application of brassinolide, being at par with
NAA, recorded significantly higher mean NAR over the
control, triacontanol and thiourea. Foliar application of
thiourea significantly increased LAD over the control,
NAA, brassinolide and triacontanol at both the phases.
The positive effect on mean LAI, LAD, CGR, LAR, RGR
and NAR also provided a clue to such a possibility that
thiourea might have resulted in creation of more photosyn-
thetically active leaf area for longer period during vegeta-
tive and reproductive phases, resulting in more absorption
and utilization of radiant energy which ultimately led in
higher dry-matter accumulation, number of branches and
plant height. These findings are in close conformity with
the results of Balai (2005) in coriander.
Foliar application of PGRs significantly increased the
seed and stover yields of coriander over the control. Foliar
spray of triacontanol, being at par with brassinolide sig-
nificantly increased the seed yield by 8.5, 9.4 and 21.7%
and stover yield by 6.0, 12.2 and 19.8% over thiourea,
NAA and control respectively. This might owing to the
stimulatory effect of growth regulators which induce large
number of reproductive sinks leading to greater activity of
carboxylating enzymes (ribose 1, 5-di phosphate carboxy-
lase), thus resulting in higher photosynthetic rates with
greater translocation and accumulation of metabolites in
sink (Nehara et al., 2006) and ultimately higher seed yield.
The favourable hormonal balance maintained at cellular
levels due to application of PGRs may also have greater
photosynthetic efficiency and enzymatic activities through
the production of endogenous auxins. The similar re-
sponse with foliar spray of triacontanol was also reported
by Nehara et al. (2006) in fenugreek and Sarada et al.
(2008) in coriander. Foliar application of all the PGRs sig-
nificantly increased the net returns over water spray (Table
4). Significantly higher net returns were recorded with
foliar spray of 1,000 ppm triacontanol compared to the
other PGRs. This treatment enhanced the net returns by Rs
9,000, 4,350, 4,360 and 3,735/ha over water-sprayed con-
trol, 50 ppm NAA, 1.0 ppm brassinolide and 1,000 ppm
thiourea respectively. The cost of triacontanol was lower
470 KURI ET AL. [Vol. 60, No. 3
in comparison to added outputs. Thus, the increased seed
yield led to higher net returns. These results are in close
conformity with the findings of Sarada et al. (2008).
It may be concluded that sowing of coriander variety
‘RCr 480’ in the first week of November with foliar appli-
cation of 1,000 ppm triacontanol at 40 and 70 DAS gives
higher yield and net returns in semi-arid eastern plain zone
of Rajasthan.
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