Abstract:

To explore the effect of plant growth regulator on decreasing fertilizer rates and improving nutrient utilization for vegetable crop, a field experiment was carried out to study the response of 5 combinations of PGRs on yield, quality, and nutrient utilization of water spinach with 50% conventional fertilization (CF). The results showed that foliar spray PGRs 1-3 significantly increased the aboveground yield by 11.3%, 12.9% and 15.7%, compared with 50% CF alone respectively, which were comparable to those obtained with CF. NO3- content of PGRs-treated water spinach (PGR1-5) was very significantly decreased by 58.2%-64.4% and 30.9%-58.2% compared with CF and 50% CF, respectively. Moreover, foliar spray PGR1 significantly enhanced N absorption, and utilization efficiency of N was up to 58.6%. The improvement were over 50% compared with CF and 50%CF. Therefore, foliar spray of PGRs could improve quality and nitrogen utilization in water spinach reduce fertilizer rate without damaging the yield, especially the combination of PGR1.