Effect of liquid seaweed extracts as biostimulant on vegetative growth of soybean

Abstract

Seaweeds are an important sustainable marine source and extracts from them have been applied as plant biostimulants. Seaweed-based extracts have been recently employed as sustainable tools to improve abiotic stress tolerance and increase growth and quality of plant. The research aimed to evaluate the effect of liquid seaweed extracts from some species of seaweeds with different concentrations on vegetative growth of soybean. Samples of seaweed were collected on Kasiak Gadang Island, Nirwana Beach, Padang, West Sumatra. Species of seaweed we tested were Padina minor, Sargassum crassifolium, Sargassum cristaefolium and Turbinaria decurrens and concentration of liquid extracts were control, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, and 0.4%. The result showed that P. minor liquid extract increasing some parameters including height, number of leaves, number of branches and fresh weight. While the dry weight of soybean was similar among the treatments in soybean. 0.4% concentration of seaweed extract significantly improves all parameters of vegetative growth of soybean.