Effect of Growth Regulators on Physiological Aspects of Cowpea : Growth regulators and potential of Vigna

The objective of this study was designed to investigate the effect of seed priming with different concentrations of growth bioregulators (i.e. indole acetic acid, gibberellic acid or kinetin) on growth and metabolism as well as productivity of Vigna sinensis L. Cream 7 plants throughout various stages of plant growth and development. It is clear from this investigation that seed priming with different doses of IAA, GA3 or kinetin improves the growth parameters of cowpea plants by increasing turgidity, stimulating leaf expansion, enhancing the production of photosynthetic pigments as well as the massive increase in photosynthetic activity. Furthermore, these growth bioregulators increased yield capacity of cowpea plants by inducing a massive increase in the pod length, number of pods/plant, number of seeds/pod and seed biomass as well as increases the protein content, total soluble sugars, sucrose and polysaccharide level. Also, it is evident from this study that kinetin application appeared to be the most effective hormone in improving growth and productivity of cowpea plants.