USE OF GROWTH REGULATORS IN Crotalaria juncea L. GROWTH AND YIELD

Abstract

Studies have pointed out the viability of the application of growth regulators in agriculture, however, information referring their use in Crotalaria juncea are still rare. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of the foliar application of growth regulators (mepiquat chloride, etil-trinexapac, and paclobutrazol), at different doses (0 g ha^-1, 75 g ha^-1, 150 g ha^-1, 225 g ha^-1, and 300 g ha^-1), on the vegetative and reproductive development of Crotalaria juncea L. The experiment was carried out in 2010, in Selvíria, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks, in a 3x5 (regulators x doses) factorial scheme, with four replications. Agronomic traits, yield, and the F test results were evaluated, being the regulators averages compared by the Tukey test (p < 0.05) and doses compared by regression analysis. Growth regulators influenced the vegetative and reproductive development of Crotalaria juncea. The increase of etil-trinexapac and paclobutrazol doses reduced linearly the plant height, while the use of mepiquat chloride and paclobutrazol increased the number of pods and seeds per plant and reduced yield. The final plants population, number of seeds per pod, and weight of one thousand seeds were not affected by the growth regulators.