Influence of alginate oligosaccharides on growth, yield and alkaloid production of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.)

Abstract

Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.), an important medicinal plant, produces several opiate alkaloids including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine and noscapine. Polysaccharides, such as sodium alginate, have been used in depolymerized form as wonderful promoters of plant growth. The present study has revealed that application of alginate oligosaccharides (AO), obtained from sodium alginate irradiated by Co-60 gamma rays, significantly enhances certain physiological/biochemical parameters as well as the overall growth of opium poppy. The highest dose applied was the most effective in increasing the morphine and codeine contents as well as the overall yield of crude opium per plant.

Effect of Gamma Irradiated Sodium Alginate on Selective Crops as Plant Growth Promoter and Bug control action.

“…In this regard, irradiated SA appears to facilitate the efficient absorption and utilization of mineral nutrients [26,27]. Similar enhancement in leaf N, P and K contents due to irradiated SA application to various other crops has been reported by [26][27][28][29]. They applied various concentrations of irradiated SA on the leaves of Papaver somniferum L. and reported that irradiated SA at 120 ppm concentration improved leaf-nitrogen content to the maximum.…”

“…A promotive effect of irradiated SA on chlorophyll content might perhaps be attributed to the irradiated SA increased leaf-N that is a constituent of chlorophyll molecule. Irradiated SA also increased the total chlorophyll and carotenoids contents in the leaves of fennel [28] , opium poppy [29] , and beetroot [27,30] .…”

“…Application of ionizing radiation to degrade this natural bioactive agent and then using as growth promoting substances is an emerging technology to exploit full genetic potential of crops in terms of growth, yield, and quality [4] . Compared to the conventional techniques such as acid/base hydrolysis and enzymatic methods [5] ,radiation processing of bioactive agents by Co-60 gamma rays offers a clean one-step method for the formation of low molecular weight oligomers of SA, called oligoalginates [3].Indeed, foliar application of the degraded oligomers has been proved to stimulate various biological and physiological activities, including plant growth [1][2][3][4]6] , shoot elongation [3,7] , root growth [8] , flower production, antimicrobial activity, amelioration of heavy metal stress, synthesis of phytoalexins etc. [9][10][11][12] .…”

Agricultural uses of plant biostimulants

“…Increases in lateral root formation (Vernieri et al 2005), total root volume (Slávik 2005;Mancuso et al 2006), and root length (Zodape et al 2011) have been observed and attributed to the presence of phytohormones such as auxins and cytokinins in seaweed extracts (Khan et al 2011a(Khan et al , 2011b. Seaweed extract application also stimulated mineral nutrient uptake in plants such as lettuce (Crouch et al 1990), grape (Mancuso et al 2006), soybean (Rathore et al 2009), tomato (Zodape et al 2011), and winter rapeseed (Jannin et al 2013) with increased accumulation of both macro-(N, P, K, Ca, S) and micro-nutrients (Mg, Zn, Mn, Fe) reported (Crouch et al 1990, Mancuso et al 2006, Rathore et al 2009Zodape et al 2011).…”

“…Seaweed extracts contain a variety of plant hormones including cytokinins, auxins, abscisic acid, gibberellic acid and salicylic acid determined indirectly by bioassays (reviewed by Khan et al 2009 andCraigie 2011;Khan et al 2011b) and directly by methods such as high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) (Stirk et al 2003;Gupta et al 2011). Cytokinins and cytokinin-like compounds are the most widely reported in seaweed extracts, followed by auxins and auxin-like compounds (Stirk et al 2003;Khan et al 2009;Craigie 2011), and these have often been speculated to be responsible for the plant growth enhancing effects of the extracts (Khan et al 2009;Craigie 2011).…”