Effect of foliar application of different elicitors on occurrence of pest and diseases during chia (Salvia hispanica L.) cultivation

Abstract

Chia is an important medicinal crop with lot of nutritional value in seeds and there is lot of demand to chia seeds grown without any chemical application. In this context, present study was concentrated on foliar application of different elicitors at 25 and 50 days after sowing as effective plant protectants by inducing plant defense response. Both black and white chia plants sprayed with chitosan at 200 ppm were un-affected by any pest and diseases. The plants sprayed with other elicitors like 100 ppm of salicylic acid, methyl jasmonic acid, potassium silicate, 200 ppm of boric acid, humic acid and 5000 ppm of dry yeast and PGPR are less prone to pest and disease attack. Whereas, the maximum pest infestation and disease incidence were noticed in plants sprayed with gibberellic acid (pest-2.38 and 1.93%; disease-0.89% in both) and in control (pest-1.34 and 1.04%; disease-1.34 and 0.74%) in black and white chia respectively.