Salicylic Acid Induced Early Responses on Growth, Pigment Composition and Metabolite Content in Vigna radiata seedlings

This study was conducted to determine the effect of foliar salicylic acid (SA) applications on vegetative growth, physiological and biochemical constituents of Vigna radiata (L.)Wilczek. SA was applied at five different concentrations (50ppm, 100ppm, 150ppm, 200ppm 250ppm) during the growth period of 7 and 15 days old Vigna seedlings. Growth parameters such as shoot and root lengths, shoot and root fresh weights and dry weights and physiological and biochemical constituents such as photosynthetic pigment composition, total soluble sugar, free amino acid and total phenols were recorded from treated and control plants on 10 and 18 days after sowing. From the experiment done all of five doses of SA application produce considerable increase in plant growth, physiological and biochemical constituents compared to the control. The optimal concentration for increased overall plant growth was found to be at 100ppm. As compared to Chlorophylla, Chlorophyllb was found to synthesize more which could be ascribed to change in the stoichiometry of PSII to PS I. Thus, the present work confirms the promotory effects of SA on overall growth, pigment synthesis and other biochemical constituents in Vigna radiata.