Nutritional improvement of wheat by foliar application of moringa leaf extract

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, during rabi season to evaluate the effect of foliar application of moringa leaf extract on produc- tivity and nutrient uptake efficiency of wheat plants. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with six treatments and three replications. The treatments were T1 (Control), T2 [moringa leaf extract (MLE) sprayed only at tillering stage], T3 (MLE sprayed at tillering and jointing stages), T4 (MLE sprayed at tillering, jointing and booting stages), T5 (MLE sprayed at tillering, jointing, booting and heading stages) and T6 (MLE sprayed only at heading stage). The application of moringa leaf extract significantly increased nutrient content as well as nutrient uptake by grain and straw. The content of N, P, K and S in both grain and straw of wheat was the highest in T4 treatment which produced the maximum biological yield of 9.05 t ha⁻¹. Again, treatment T4 resulted in the highest total uptakes of N, P, K and S in wheat, which were 131.91, 15.55, 122.27, and 24.16 kg ha⁻¹, respectively. The results of this study indicate that foliar application of MLE can potentially be a viable option to increase biological yield and nutrient uptake efficiency of wheat plants, particularly N, P, K and S. In this study, the foliar application of moringa leaf extract on tillering, jointing and booting stages of the crop showed the best performance and therefore, it might be used due to its eco-friendly nature for yield enhancement as well as nutrient enrichment in wheat.