INFLUENCE OF CALCIUM NITRATE ON THE CHANGE OF MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MUCILAGE CONTENT OF BORAGE

Hoda Shams | Heshmat Omidi

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URL :   http://research.shahed.ac.ir/WSR/WebPages/Report/PaperView.aspx?PaperID=7786
Date :  2013/05/16
Publish in :    دومين کنگره ملي گياهان دارويي


Keywords :INFLUENCE, CALCIUM, NITRATE, MORPHOLOGICAL, CHARACTERISTICS, MUCILAGE, CONTENT, BORAGE

Abstract :

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Borage (Boragoofficinalis L.) is an herbaceous annual plant which is contains high percentages of gamma linolenic acid in the seed oil. The aerial part of borage contains mucilage and the other secondary metabolites 1,2. Calcium one of the essential nutrients for plants, has been observed to play a major role in the initiation of many signal transduction processes in higher plant cells, polar growth, movements and hormone regulated growth and development 3.The main aim of the study was to determine the effect of calcium nitrate on morphological traits, mucilage content and swelling indexonborage. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized block design with three replicates. The treatments were three concentrations of calcium nitrate (5, 10, 15 mM) and control which sprayed on aerial parts of plant at onset of flowering and seedset stages. The results showed that various concentrations of calcium nitrate had a significant effect (p 0.05) on calcium concentration in the plant tissues. The highest amount of calcium in plant tissues was observed at the calcium nitrate 15 mM.The plant height (p 0.01), leaf number, total Ash, seed yield, mucilage percentage and swelling index values, in the aerial parts of the plants were significantly (p 0.05) affected by the application of different concentrations of calcium nitrate, but had no significant effect on the insoluble acid ash content, leaf width and leaflength. The highest plant height, leaf number, total ash and seed yield were observed when 15mM of calcium nitratewas applied, whereas the highestmucilage percentage and swelling index values were observed with 5mMof calcium nitrate.A 15mM concentration of calcium nitrate had a stronger beneficial effect than the other treatments with respect to the majority of the measured properties of borage.