Changes in growth and photosynthetic characteristics of Ocimum sanctum under growth regulator treatments

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of growth regulators on growth characteristics such as root length, shoot length, total leaf area, number of inflorescence per plant, number of flower per inflorescence, whole plant fresh weight and whole plant dry weight. Photosynthetic characteristics were also analyzed based on the same experiment. For this, various photosynthetic pigment contents such as chlorophyll, carotenoid, anthocyanin and xanthophyll content were calculated. The conventional growth regulator abscisic acid (ABA) and non-conventional growth regulator triazole compound paclobutrazol (PBZ) were used. Root length increased due to growth regulator treatment, but shoot length decreased. Leaf area was decreased due to growth regulator treatment. The number of inflorescence increased in ABA treated plants, but it was decreased in PBZ treated plants. In ABA treated plants, the number of flowers per inflorescence was increased. In PBZ treated plants the number of inflorescence was reduced. The whole plant fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) were increased in ABA and PBZ treated plants. There was an increase in chlorophyll content in growth regulator treated plants compared to control, and it was more in PBZ treated plants. The carotenoid content was also increased in ABA and PBZ treated plants.