Interaction of triacontanol with other plant growth regulators on morphology and yield of field pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Abstract

The effect of a recent plant growth regulator, triacontanol (TRIA), on plant growth and yield of Pisum sativum L. was investigated. The experiment was carried out under field conditions at the Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria (INIA), La Molina, Lima, Peru, using a completely randomized block design with eight treatments and three replicates. Treatments consisted in the foliar application of TRIA alone and in all possible combinations with three plant growth regulators based on auxins (AUX), gibberellins (GA), and cytokinins (CK), on pea plants cv. Rondo. The highest green pod yields were obtained with the application of TRIA+AUX+GA+CK, and TRIA+AUX+CK. The TRIA+AUX increased the values of the yield variables while TRIA+GA increased the values of the morphological variables. TRIA+CK showed a stimulating effect on morphological variables and number of grains per pod, while TRIA+AUX+CK acted synergistically on yield variables since their combined effect overweighed the effect of each growth regulator separately. Treatments with TRIA exceeded the control treatment in yield variables, indicating its great potential to be used in sustainable agriculture to guarantee food security in the future.