APPLICATION OF DUCKWEED ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF LENTIL SEEDLINGS AMIT TIWARI 1 Department of Botany, D.B.S. College, Kanpur, U.P., India ABSTRACT Wolffia arrhiza an aquatic weed found in 77 Districts of India. The effect of growth promoting substances of Wolffia arrhiza on lentil variety D.P.L-15 seedlings has been studied by presoaking seed treatment. The observations show that germination and growth of both root and shoot development is stimulated in seeds treated with 5% extract. Results are significant satistically. KEYWORDS: Wolffia arrhiza, Lentil Seedlings, D.P.L-15 Out of variety of aquatic plants, duckweeds comprise simplest and smallest of flowering plants relegated as botanical curiosities. They have been described as plants without known economic significance in the beginning but now their relevance as fish and duckfood has attracted attention. Nowinska and Rzesa (1972) pointed out the importance of Wolffia arrhiza as a poor mans food for Polish, Burmese and Thai people.Costanzaet al.,(2014)pointed changes in the global value of ecosystem services. They reported on estimated yield of 265 tones of green matter per hectare and 2080 kg.of protein per hectare. There are also reports of endogenous gibberellins in floating plants and turions of Wolffiellafloridana (Pieterse et al., 1971). It is known that gibberellins have an effect on dormancy and as such duckweeds may prove useful as experimental material for studying dormancy and also serve towards extraction of growth substances for utilization in agriculture, Duckweeds have been found to be unusually suited for biochemical studies and plant nutrition. Extracts of W. arrhizaon vegetative growth (Tiwari, 2003) and on yield of lentil studied earlier by Tiwari and Shukla (2007). The overwhelming usage of lemonades as experimental organisms in morphogenetic, physiological, biochemical and genetically research has opened up wide vistas for exploration and enquiry. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experimental material was collected from nature in healthy condition and plants of equal size and shape were carefully selected. Selected plants were vigorously washed in tap water to remove adhering debris and algae. Finally, the material was washed with distilled water. The extractions of W. arrhiza were made in water or ether. As ether is injurious to plant growth, it was allowed to evaporate and growth- promoting substances were suspended in water. Five milliliter of Wolffia arrhiza by volume was taken and ground in a clean porcelain mortar with water or ether. In case of water extract sufficient water was added to make it 100 ml. to have a five percent extract. In case of ether extract, ether was first allowed to evaporate and the suspension was then made to 100 ml. in distilled water. 1, 2 and 5 percent extracts were made by further dilutions with distilled water. Fifty seeds were soaked in sterilized petridishes in different concentrations (1,2 and 5 percent) of water and ether extract of W. arrhiza and distilled water (control) and 12 hours.Immediately after the soaking period seedlings were grown in test tubes filled with distilled water on equal sized filter papers following Garrards (1954) technique. The experiments were carried out at a temperature of 30-35 o c, the normal temperature range of crop in nature. Observations were made every twenty- four hours with in experimental duration of hrs. on length of root, number of lateral roots and length of shoot, fresh weight of seedlings and dry weight of seedlings. The data was analyzed statistically following analysis of variance method at 5 percent error probability for testing the significance of the effect of treatments. Results of statistical analysis are entered in respective observation tables. _________________________________________ 1 Corresponding author Print ISSN: 0976-2876 Online ISSN: 2250-0138 Available online at: http://www.ijsr.in I n d i a n J o u r n a l o f S c i e n t i f i c R e s e a r c h DOI:10.32606/IJSR.V12.I1.00020 Received: 02-05-2021 Accepted: 13-07-2021 Publication: 31-08-2021 Indian J.Sci.Res. 12 (1): 111-114, 2021 Original Research Article