Evaluation of Coconut Water as a Natural Biostimulant for Enhancing Root and Shoot Development in Acerola Cherry (Malpighia emarginata L.) Stem Cuttings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70112/ajsat-2025.14.1.4265Keywords:
Coconut Water (CW), Acerola Cherry, Stem Cuttings, Root and Shoot Formation, Growth ParametersAbstract
An experiment was conducted in a home garden in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka to evaluate the response of coconut water (CW) on the growth of stem cuttings of acerola cherry and to determine the optimal CW concentration for improved root and shoot formation. Acerola cuttings with three nodes were treated with various CW concentrations, while water was used as a control. These cuttings were planted in polybags containing a mixture of topsoil, red soil, and cow dung in a ratio of 1:1:1 (v/v/v). The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with eight replications. The treatments included five CW concentrations (2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10%) along with a control. Cuttings soaked in CW showed superior growth parameters compared to the control. At 60 days after planting, the cuttings treated with 10% (v/v) CW concentration exhibited significantly higher values in the measured growth parameters, including newly formed shoot length (7.29 cm), root number (5.25), longest root length (5.64 cm), rooting percentage (93.75%), fresh shoot weight (15.19 g), fresh root weight (2.5 g), dry shoot weight (8.85 g), and dry root weight (1.31 g). Lower values were recorded in the control for these parameters. The results demonstrated that CW had a positive impact on the growth of acerola cherry stem cuttings, with a 10% (v/v) CW concentration being the most effective for root and shoot formation among the tested treatments.
References
[1] G. D. Mercali, D. P. Jaeschke, I. C. Tessaro, and L. D. F. Marczak, “Study of vitamin C degradation in acerola pulp during ohmic and conventional heat treatment,” Food Science and Technology, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 91-95, 2012.
[2] V. L. A. G. Lima, E. A. Melo, M. I. S. Maciel, F. G. Prazeres, R. S. Musser, and D. E. S. Lima, “Total phenolic and carotenoid contents in acerola genotypes harvested at three ripening stages,” Food Chemistry, vol. 90, pp. 565-568, 2005.
[3] T. Mezadri, D. Villaño, M. S. Fernández-Pachón, M. C. García-Parrilla, and A. M. Troncoso, “Antioxidant compounds and antioxidant activity in acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC.) fruits and derivatives,” Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 282-290, 2008.
[4] M. D. S. M. Rufino, J. Perez-Jimenez, M. D. Tabemero, R. E. Alves, E. S. De Brito, and F. Saura-Calixto, “Acerola and cashew apple as sources of antioxidants and dietary fibre,” International Journal of Food Science and Technology, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 2227-2233, 2010.
[5] M. E. Schreckinger, J. Lotton, M. A. Lila, and E. G. de Mejia, “Berries from South America: A comprehensive review on chemistry, health potential, and commercialization,” Journal of Medicinal Food, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 233-246, 2010.
[6] G. E. G. Moreira, M. G. M. Costa, A. C. R. Souza, E. S. Brito, M. F. D. Medeiros, and H. M. C. Azeredo, “Physical properties of spray dried acerola pomace extract as affected by temperature and drying aids,” Food Science and Technology, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 641-645, 2008.
[7] S. D. S. Almeida, W. A. L. Alves, S. A. de Araujo, J. C. C. Santana, N. Narain, and R. R. de Souza, “Use of simulated annealing in standardization and optimization of the acerola wine production,” Food Science and Technology, Campinas, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 292-297, 2014.
[8] A. Prakash and R. Baskaran, “Acerola, an untapped functional superfruit: A review on latest frontiers,” Journal of Food Science and Technology, vol. 55, no. 9, pp. 3373-3384, 2018.
[9] R. Ritzinger and C. H. S. P. R. Ritzinger, “Acerola,” Informe Agropecuário, Belo Horizonte, vol. 32, no. 264, pp. 17-25, 2011.
[10]H. T. Hartmann, D. E. Kester Jr, F. T. Davis, and R. L. Geneve, Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices, 6th ed., Prentice-Hall Inc.,Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA, 1997.
[11]W. K. M. B. Fernando and T. H. Seran, “Effect of compost with banana peel and moringa leaf powders on seed yield and yield components of green gram (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek),” Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Belgrade), vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 171-186, 2023.
[12]J. Sivakumar, “Rejuvenation of pesticide polluted soil from the isolated microbial flora of agricultural field,” Asian Journal of Science and Applied Technology, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 25-37, 2023.
[13]T. H. Seran and T. Umadevi, “Influence of Indole Acetic Acid (IAA)on the establishment of stem cuttings in lemon (Citrus limon L.),”Journal of Agriculture Research, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 517-524, 2011.
[14]J. W. H. Yong, L. Ge, Y. F. Ng, and S. N. Tan, “The chemical composition and biological properties of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) water,” Molecules, vol. 14, no. 12, pp. 5144-5164, 2009.
[15]V. Thuraisingham and T. H. Seran, “Response of rooting attributes of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) stem cuttings to natural rooting stimulators,” International Journal of Crop Science and Technology, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 20-27, 2019.
[16]A. Prades, M. Dornier, N. Diop, and J. P. Pain, “Coconut water uses, composition and properties: A review,” Fruits, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 87-107, 2012.
[17]L. V. Kurepin, M. Zaman, and R. P. Pharis, “Phytohormonal basis for the plant growth promoting action of naturally occurring biostimulators,” Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, vol.94, no. 9, pp. 1715-1722, 2014.
[18]K. N. D. Lakmali and T. H. Seran, “Impact of seed priming with king coconut water on growth and yield of okra (Abelmoschus esculentusL.),” Journal of Food and Agriculture, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 27-46, 2022.
[19]H. Prabowo, Samanhudi, E. Yuniastuti, and A. R. M. Yunus, “Effect of media combination with concentration of AB-mix nutrient on growth of banana shoots in vitro,” Bulgarian Journal of Agricultura lScience, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 440-450, 2018.
[20]C. M. Juanita, T. P. Estella, C. T. Lorele, S. P. Emmanuel, and D. C. Angela, “Enhancement of seedling growth with extracts from coconut water,” Philippine Journal of Crop Science, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-7,1988.
[21]W. Wu, K. Du, X. Kang, and H. Wei, “The diverse roles of cytokinins in regulating leaf development,” Horticulture Research, vol. 8, no.118, 2021.
[22]S. P. Hoad and R. R. B. Leakey, “Effects of pre-severance light quality on the vegetative propagation of Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill exMaiden,” Trees, vol. 10, pp. 317-324, 1996.
[23]R. U. Khan, M. S. Khan, A. Rashid, and M. A. Farooq, “Effect of exogenous indole-3-acetic acid and naphthalene acetic acid on regeneration of damask rose cuttings in three growing media, ”Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, vol. 10, no. 20, pp. 3626-3631, 2007.
[24]T. H. Seran and A. Thiresh, “Root and shoot growth of dragon fruit(Hylocereus undatus) stem cutting as influenced by IBA,” Agriculture and Biological Science Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 27-30, 2015.
[25]C. H. Reddy, R. C. Sekhar, Y. N. Reddy, and M. Rajkumar, “Effect of growth regulators on rooting of scented geranium (Pelargonium
[26]graveolens L.) cuttings,” Journal of Research ANGARU, vol. 33, no.4, pp. 114-116, 2005.
[27]G. J. De Klerk, W. M. van der Krieken, and J. C. de Jong, “The formation of adventitious roots: New concepts, new possibilities,” In Vitro Cellulr and Developmental Biology, vol. 35, pp. 189-199, 1999.
[28]J. Ludwig-Muller, “Indole-3-butyric acid in plant growth and development,” Plant Growth Regulation, vol. 32, pp. 219-230, 2000.
[29]B. K. Zolman, A. Yoder, and B. Bartel, “Genetic analysis of indole-3-butyric acid response in Arabidopsis thaliana reveals four mutant classes,” Genetics, vol. 156, pp. 1323-1337, 2000.
[30]K. Kumar, “Agriculture diversification in the low hill zone agrarian economy of Himachal Pradesh,” Asian Journal of Science and Applied Technology, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 44-53, 2022.
[31]F. Ulfa, M. F. Anshori, R. Amin, and A. A. Iqba, “Effect of coconut water concentration and planting media on growth and postharvest characters of large chili using multivariate and non-parametric analyses,” Australian Journal of Crop Science, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 620-627, 2022.
[32]S. A. Salim, F. T. Rasheed, U. H. Al-Deen, and R. Abd Al Muneem,“Water requirements, soil moisture availability, and their effects on quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) development and yield,” Asian Journal of Science and Applied Technology, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 25-33,2024.
[33]M. Hofreiter and V. Jirka, “Uncertainty analysis of evapotranspiration estimates in ecosystems,” Asian Journal of Science and Applied Technology, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 30-38, 2013.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Centre for Research and Innovation
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
