Micronutrient Content in Relation to Specific Leaf Area, Light Regime and Drenched-Applied Paclobutrazol in Lantana Camara L.

Aristidis Matsoukis^1*, Dionisios Gasparatos², Aikaterini Chronopoulou-Sereli¹

¹Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, Athens, Greece.

²Laboratory of Soil Science, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Corresponding Author Email : armatsoukis@aua.gr

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CARJ.3.2.02

Abstract:

Iron and manganese are essential microelements on plant growth but no information is known with regard to their content on Lantana camara L. subsp. camara (lantana) treated with drenched-applied paclobutrazol. Thus, the effects of drenched-applied paclobutrazol [0 (control), 40, and 80 mg l^-1] on leaf iron and manganese contents of lantana plants were investigated testing two light regimes, resulted from the establishment of different shading levels, 0% (daily light quantity of 27.8 mol m^-2 d^-1) and 66% (9.4 mol m^-2 d^-1) in a glasshouse in Attica, Greece. Possible correlations between the studied minerals contents (iron and manganese) and specific leaf area were examined. Analysis of variance showed that iron and manganese contents were affected by shading level, paclobutrazol, their interaction and paclobutrazol, respectively. Iron content increased significantly after treatments with paclobutrazol, compared to control, at full light environment (0% shading). Leaf manganese content presented no significant increase with the increasing paclobutrazol concentrations at 0% and 66% shadings. No significant differences were noted (dispensing control plants) on iron and manganese contents, when examining plants which were treated with the same paclobutrazol concentration, between the studied light environments. From the linear correlation analysis, manganese content exhibited a significant negative correlation with specific leaf area which was not shown by the iron content. The results of the present study could contribute to establishing iron and manganese sufficiency ranges on L. camara, especially after treatments with different light environments and paclobutrazol concentrations.

Keywords:

Lantana Camara; Paclobutrazol; Shading; Iron; Manganese; Leaf Area

Download this article as: 

[ HTML Full Text]