Impacts of Elevated Ozone and Ozone Protectants on Plant Growth, Nutrients, Biochemical and Yield Properties of Turnip (Brassica Rapa L.)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Woodhouse farm, Horticultural Research Station, Ooty, during October 2017 to March 2018 to quantify the impact of elevated ozone and ozone protectant spray on plant growth, nutrients, biochemical and yield properties of turnip crop. The experiment was laid out in a factorial completely randomized block design and was replicated thrice. Elevated ozone exposure on turnip significantly reduced the plant height, tuber size, tuber weight, chlorophyll ‘a,’ chlorophyll ‘b’ and total chlorophyll content as well as the nutrient content of plant, viz., total nitrogen, total potassium, total manganese, iron, zinc and copper, also affected. Elevated ozone exposure significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme activity like catalase and peroxidase activity in addition to increment in total phosphorus content in leaf tissues. However, ozone protectants played a major role in nullifying the tropospheric ozone effect on growth and development, physiological traits and yield of turnip while tested with panchagavya performed better followed by neem oil and ascorbic acid.