GROWTH AND PHOTOSYNTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS AS AFFECTED BY TRIAZOLES IN Amorphophallus campanulatus Blume

Amorphophallus campanulatus (Elephant Foot Yam) is a rich source of starch, essential amino acids and therefore, used as a vegetable. It is cultivated and utilized in various regions of South India. Triazole compounds are widely used systemic fungicides to control diseases in plants and animals. Many of the triazole compounds have both fungi toxic and plant growth regulating properties. Hence, an attempt was made to study the effect of triadimefon, paclobutrazol, and propiconazole on growth and photosynthetic characteristics of Amorphophallus campanulatus. Triazole compounds increased total root length, dry weight, moisture content, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, intercellular CO2 concentration, net photosynthetic rate (PN) and water use efficiency (WUE). On the other hand, petiole length, total leaf area, transpiration rate (TR) and stomatal conductance were decreased. Among the triazole compounds, paclobutrazol showed higher effectiveness than the other two triazole compounds tested.