Effect of antitranspirants on growth, photosynthetic rate and yield characters of brinjal

A field study was conducted with different antitranspirants viz kaolin, phenyl mercuric acetate, salicylic acid and liquid paraffin on brinjal to find out their effects on growth, photosynthesis and yield characters. Antitranspirants significantly influenced the plant biomass, number of branches, plant height, leaf area and number of flowers. Kaoline (7.5%) spray was found to be the best which improved both plant biomass and number of flowers. All antitranspirants affected the photosynthetic characters such as net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO₂ concentration, transpiration and relative water content (RWC). Maximum net photosynthetic rate, RWC and minimum transpiration were observed with kaolin (7.5%), which was at par with salicylic acid (1000 ppm) and liquid paraffin (1.5%). Fruit yield was significantly increased with kaolin (7.5%) and salicylic acid (1000 ppm).