NATURAL PLANT EXTRACTS INDUCED-ALTERATIONS IN GROWTH, PHYSIOLOGY AND QUALITY OF TURF GRASS (Cynodon dactylon) UNDER SUMMER STRESS

Abstract

Natural plant extracts may alleviate negative effects of abiotic stresses. To test this hypothesis, a field trial was executed to evaluate the effect of natural plant extracts on growth, physiology and quality of Cynodon dactylon under summer stress by following Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) having three replicates. When turf established properly, extracts of moringa leaves (3%), seaweed (0.2%), sorghum water (3%), and sunflower water (3%) were foliar applied (two times with an interval of 15 days) while water spray served as control. Results showed that plant extracts had variable but positive effect on tiller height, Inter-nodal distance, leaf area index, root length, root-shoot fresh weight, and root dry weight. However, root-shoot fresh weight ratio and shoot dry weight did not affect significantly by the application of plant extracts under study. Moreover, moringa and seaweed extracts proved most effective equally than sorghum and sunflower extract regarding leaf area index, tiller height, shoot fresh weight and root length. Physiological attributes like chlorophyll contents, cell membrane thermo stability, relative water and K-contents as well as turf quality was also improvd. Conclusively, Moringa oleifera and seaweed extracts can be used to enhance aesthete value of turf by improving its growth and quality.