Improving the growth quality of the Celosia argentea plant using some synthetic hormones

Abstract

To improve the growth and quality of Celosia argentea (silver cockscomb), seeds were soaked for 2 hr before planting in a solution of thyroxine, progesterone, testosterone and cortisone, at different concentrations and distilled water as control. After germination, seedlings were transplanted into pots containing clay soil. The results showed clear superiority of treatments involving with all synthetic hormones in terms of all assessed parameters: vegetative, floral and biochemical, compared to the control. The results of our study have shown that the optimal treatments for growth and flowering were achieved with medium concentrations of the following hormones tested: thyroxine at 100 μg · L⁻¹, progesterone at 200 mg · L⁻¹ and testosterone at 500 mg · L⁻¹. It should be noted that in the above-mentioned thyroxine treatment, the best growth parameters of the plant vegetative parts and flowers were obtained. In the case of cortisone, higher growth parameters were obtained when the hormone was used at the highest tested concentration of 1.5 mg · L⁻¹. Our results demonstrate that low-to-medium concentrations of thyroxine, progesterone and testosterone applied via seed priming are effective strategies for improving C. argentea growth and flowering enhancing biochemical components such as chlorophylls, carotenoids and carbohydrates.