Priming with botanical leaf extracts enhances emergence and vigour in soybean (Glycine max)

Nana Kwaku Yeboah Agyetoah, Paul Kweku Tandoh, Irene Akua Idun, Bridget Yayra Bemanu

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46909/alse-582180

ABSTRACT. Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a vital legume crop that is widely cultivated for its high protein and oil contents and serves as an essential food and industrial resource. In Ghana, efforts to improve soybean productivity have largely focused on synthetic seed treatments, despite the growing interest in sustainable agricultural practices. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of seed priming using botanical leaf extracts, namely those of moringa (Moringa oleifera), neem (Azadirachta indica), and tithonia (Tithonia diversifolia), on the growth and physiological seed quality after harvest of three soybean varieties (‘Afayak’, ‘Jenguma’, and ‘Favour’). We hypothesised that botanical priming would enhance seed and plant performance compared to non-primed controls. A 3 × 4 factorial experiment was conducted using a randomised complete block design. Measurable results showed that seeds primed with 10% moringa and neem leaf extracts significantly increased the plant height, number of branches, 1000-seed weight, and seed vigour, with electrical conductivity values ranging from 17 to 34 µS cm⁻¹g⁻¹, which is within the recommended range for high seed vigour. The germination percentage after harvest remained consistently high across treatments (80–95%), with no significant delays in flowering time. Moringa-primed Afayak seeds had the highest 1000-seed weight (110.36 g), and tithonia-primed seeds showed reduced performance and higher fungal incidence. These results confirm the hypothesis and highlight the potential of botanical priming as an effective, low-cost strategy for improving soybean seed quality and crop establishment. These findings offer practical implications for sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, promoting environmentally friendly alternatives to synthetic agrochemicals.

Keywords: botanical leaf extract; germination enhancement; moringa; neem; seed priming; seedling vigour; soybean (Glycine max); tithonia (Tithonia diversifolia).

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ALSE and ACS Style
Agyetoah, N.K.Y.; Tandoh, P.K.; Idun, I.A.; Bemanu, B.Y. Priming with botanical leaf extracts enhances emergence and vigour in soybean (Glycine max). Journal of Applied Life Sciences and Environment 2025, 58 (2), 355-368.
https://doi.org/10.46909/alse-582180

AMA Style
Agyetoah NKY, Tandoh PK, Idun IA, Bemanu BY. Priming with botanical leaf extracts enhances emergence and vigour in soybean (Glycine max). Journal of Applied Life Sciences and Environment. 2025; 58 (2): 355-368.
https://doi.org/10.46909/alse-582180

Chicago/Turabian Style
Agyetoah, Nana Kwaku, Yeboah Paul Kweku Tandoh, Irene Akua Idun, and Bridget Yayra Bemanu. 2025. “Priming with botanical leaf extracts enhances emergence and vigour in soybean (Glycine max).” Journal of Applied Life Sciences and Environment 58, no. 2: 355-368.
https://doi.org/10.46909/alse-582180

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Priming with botanical leaf extracts enhances emergence and vigour in soybean (Glycine max)

Nana Kwaku Yeboah AGYETOAH^*, Paul Kweku TANDOH, Irene Akua IDUN and Bridget Yayra BEMANU

Department of Horticulture Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; email: pktandoh.canr@knust.edu.gh; reneidun@gmail.com; yayrabridget75@gmail.com

*Correspondence: nkyagyetoah@gmail.com

Received: Apr. 01, 2025. Revised: Jul. 13, 2025. Accepted: Jul. 28, 2025. Published online: Aug. 08, 2025

ABSTRACT. Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a vital legume crop that is widely cultivated for its high protein and oil contents and serves as an essential food and industrial resource. In Ghana, efforts to improve soybean productivity have largely focused on synthetic seed treatments, despite the growing interest in sustainable agricultural practices. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of seed priming using botanical leaf extracts, namely those of moringa (Moringa oleifera), neem (Azadirachta indica), and tithonia (Tithonia diversifolia), on the growth and physiological seed quality after harvest of three soybean varieties (‘Afayak’, ‘Jenguma’, and ‘Favour’). We hypothesised that botanical priming would enhance seed and plant performance compared to non-primed controls. A 3 × 4 factorial experiment was conducted using a randomised complete block design. Measurable results showed that seeds primed with 10% moringa and neem leaf extracts significantly increased the plant height, number of branches, 1000-seed weight, and seed vigour, with electrical conductivity values ranging from 17 to 34 µS cm⁻¹g⁻¹, which is within the recommended range for high seed vigour. The germination percentage after harvest remained consistently high across treatments (80–95%), with no significant delays in flowering time. Moringa-primed Afayak seeds had the highest 1000-seed weight (110.36 g), and tithonia-primed seeds showed reduced performance and higher fungal incidence. These results confirm the hypothesis and highlight the potential of botanical priming as an effective, low-cost strategy for improving soybean seed quality and crop establishment. These findings offer practical implications for sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, promoting environmentally friendly alternatives to synthetic agrochemicals.

Keywords: botanical leaf extract; germination enhancement; moringa; neem; seed priming; seedling vigour; soybean (Glycine max); tithonia (Tithonia diversifolia).

INTRODUCTION

Soybean is an important staple crop valued for its high protein and oil contents and serves as a vital resource for food, feed, and industrial uses (Modgil et al., 2020). In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Ghana, soybean cultivation has attracted increased attention over the last decade due to government efforts to promote its growth, production, and use in alignment with the Medium-Term Agricultural Development Programme (Akramov and Malek, 2012; Martey and Goldsmith, 2020). These efforts have aimed to encourage farmers to grow it as a supplementary and possible export crop (Addai, 2001). In West Africa, the crop has become an important source of affordable and high-quality protein for the underprivileged and their families in rural areas. It is utilised in the production of cakes, baby food, soymilk, soya meat, and ‘dawadawa’, an indigenous seasoning product for soups, sauces, and stews (Atuna et al., 2022).

Treating seeds before sowing is essential for activating the seed resources and, together with external ingredients, can enhance plant growth and improve yield. Seed priming enhances the germination speed and uniformity (Khan et al., 2021) and triggers important biochemical changes in the seed that aid in breaking dormancy and activating enzymes for reserve mobilisation and embryonic tissue development (Farooq et al., 2022). The use of botanicals, such as leaf extracts, for seed priming have become a sustainable method harnessing natural compounds to improve plant growth, yield, and seed quality (Nurrahma et al., 2024). Recent studies have shown that soybean seed priming with botanical extracts improves germination by mobilising reserves and activating enzymes (Khan et al., 2021). Moringa leaf extract (MLE) has been used as a medium for seed priming and a solution for foliar spray to improve the growth and yield of crops, such as cotton, rice, wheat, and common bean, and to improve resistance to pests and diseases (Panhwar et al., 2022). Tejasree et al. (2021) reported that priming cowpea seed with neem leaf extract (NLE) increased the germinability and vigour. Despite these advances, the majority of research on soybean production focuses on synthetic priming agents, resulting in a lack of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of various botanical leaf extracts in different agroecological settings, such as Ghana. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of seed priming with botanical leaf extracts (specifically those of moringa, neem, and tithonia) as a seed enhancement strategy to improve the growth and seed quality after harvest.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Research Area

Planting was done on the Demonstration Field of the Department of Horticulture, KNUST, which is situated close to the International Center for Innovative Learning (ICIL) on Mango Road, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. The site is situated in a semi-deciduous forest zone at an elevation of 168 m above sea level. The area has two major rainfall distribution patterns. The main rainy season lasts from late March to mid-July. From mid-July to mid-September, there is a brief dry spell, followed by a minor rainy season from mid-September to mid-November. The experiments and analyses conducted at the laboratory were carried out at the Grains and Legumes Development Board (GLDB) and the Departments of Horticulture and Crop and Soil Sciences (Table 1).

Source of seeds and materials

The most preferred and widely used varieties of soybean seeds (‘Afayak’, ‘Jenguma’, and ‘Favour’), as reported by Addae-Frimpomaah et al. (2022), were obtained from the Savannah Research Institute (SARI). The priming solution was made from fresh and healthy foliage of moringa, neem, and tithonia harvested from the Department of Horticulture, KNUST.

Experimental design

A 3 × 4 factorial randomised complete block design was used in the field with 3 replications. The soybean variety (Afayak, Jenguma, and Favour) represented one factor, and the second was the priming solution made from plant extracts. These priming solutions included 10% extracts from the leaves of moringa (MLE), neem (10% NLE), and tithonia (10% TLE), and no priming with extracts was used as the control. The field was 22.1 m × 11 m, and had a total experimental area of 243.1 m². Each experimental plot measured 3 m × 1.2 m with an alley of 0.7 m between plots and an alley of 1.0 m between blocks. Each block measured 22.1 m × 3.0 m, with a 60 cm space between rows and a 30 cm between plants. The experiment was carried out in January 2024.

Preparation of priming agents (leaf extracts)

Fresh and young leaves from healthy tithonia, moringa, and neem plants were harvested and dried in the shade to remove external moisture. To make the 10% solution of extracts, freshly harvested leaves of moringa, tithonia, and neem were rinsed under running water, air dried, and prepared by blending 100 g of the foliage in 1000 mL of distilled water. The blends were filtered using a cheesecloth to collect the MLE, NLE, and TLE (Table 2).

Seed soaking

Seeds were soaked in the solution for 12 h in a 1:5 ratio of weight (g):volume (mL) at room temperature (Thepthanee et al., 2024). Seeds (60 g) of Afayak, Jenguma, and Favour were soaked in 300 mL of MLE, NLE, and TLE. After the soaking period, the seeds were removed from the solution by sieving and air dried in the shade for 2 h before sowing.

Table 1
Climatic and soil characteristics of the test site

Parameter	Value	Unit	Description
Annual Rainfall	1500	mm	Total average yearly rainfall
Minimum Temperature	21	℃	Average daily minimum temperature
Maximum Temperature	31	℃	Average daily maximum temperature
Relative Humidity (Morning)	95	%	Average humidity around 6:00 AM
Relative Humidity (Noon)	60	%	Average humidity around 12:00 PM
Soil Type	Feric luvisol	–	According to FAO (2001)

Table 2
Composition of the leaf extracts

Parameters	MLE	NLE	TLE
Total N (mg/L)	3759.67	5930.67	5160.67
P (mg/L)	46.16	55.59	78.37
K (mg/L)	1082.4	1315.7	1887.6
Ca (mg/L)	894.9	768.19	628.4
Mg (mg/L)	183.2	139.2	103.07
Na (mg/L)	45.8	67.830	113.330
Fe (mg/L)	2.45	0.872	0.888
Zn (mg/L)	0.214	0.217	0.206
EC (uS/cm)	1705.67	1219.67	1663
pH	5.05	4.82	4.56

MLE: Moringa leaf extract, NLE: Neem leaf extract and TLE: Tithonia leaf extract

Sowing and cultural practices

In each hill, 3 seeds were planted based on the previously described spacing. Following emergence, 1 soybean plant per hole was left after thinning. Plants were irrigated in the late evening with the use of sprinklers from the time of planting until the pods were fully formed. Hoeing was performed manually to control weeds. Sino Booster foliar fertiliser (manufactured by Sino Agro-chemical Industry Ltd. Shenzhen) was applied at a rate of 45 mL in 15 L of water during the flowering stage.

Harvesting was done by uprooting the plant when the leaves yellowed and the pods turned brown. Plants were further sun-dried for 7 days, and the pods were removed for threshing.

Data collection

Days until 50% of Flowers Bloom

This information was gathered by keeping track of how many days it took for half of the plants to reach full bloom.

Plant height

Ten plants were tagged in each plot, and the height of the plants was determined using surveyor’s measuring tape to measure the plants from the base of the stem to the apex. The average height was expressed in centimetres (cm)

Number of branches per plant at physiological maturity

The number of branches on the main stem of the plants was counted and recorded.

Final germination percentage (%)

Fine sand was used to assess the germination of the pretreated seeds in a test conducted using plastic bowls, with 1 L of sand to 160 mL of water. In each plastic bowl, 50 seeds were sown, and there were 3 replicates per treatment. Every 24 h, the bowls were visually examined for germination, and for 8 days, the number of germinated seeds was recorded.

The final germination percentage (FGP) was recorded after 8 days. The percentage of normal/healthy seedlings of the sown seeds within the experimental period was represented by the final germination percentage (ISTA, 2007). The final germination percentage was calculated as follows (Equation 1):

1000-Seed weight

The 1000-seed weight was determined by randomly selecting 8 replicates of 100 seeds from each sample and weighed using an electric balance. The average weight of 100 seed was recorded in 8 replicates, and the 1000-seed weight was then calculated as follows (Equation 2):

Moisture content (%)

The moisture content of the seed was measured using a Burrows DMC500 version 4.00 moisture meter. The type of seed to test (soybean) was selected from the measure option in the Menu. The sample was weighed and poured into the measuring chamber, which then measured the moisture content and temperature of the sample. This process was replicated three times for each sample, and the resultant average was recorded as the moisture content for that sample.

Electrical conductivity (μScm⁻¹g⁻¹)

The electrical conductivity (EC) test was used to evaluate the vigour of the harvested soybean seeds. The main aim of the seed vigour test was to provide appropriate information on the planting value of the lot and to predict their storage potential. Fifty seeds were randomly selected from each sample and weighed to the nearest 0.01 g. The seeds were then placed in a 250-mL flask containing 75 mL distilled water and kept at 20°C (±1°C). After 24 h of soaking, the flasks were gently shaken for 10–15 s, and the seeds were removed from the distilled water with a pair of sterilised forceps (ISTA, 2007). The EC of the seed leachate was measured by inserting a conductivity meter into the water until a stable reading was obtained, and the values were expressed as μScm⁻¹g⁻¹. This was repeated for all samples. The average of 2 control flasks (sterilised distilled water) set up at the beginning of the experiment were measured as background readings. Conductivity was calculated using the following formula (ISTA, 2007) (Equation 3):

Seed health test

Seed health testing was carried out following the adapted procedure from ISTA (2001). The following materials were used: acidified Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) plates in 90-mm Petri dishes; incubator operating at 25 ± 2°C; sterile paper towels to blot seed dry; 1% Sodium hydrochloride (NaOCl); forceps; timer; and pH meter. This experiment used a fresh batch of Petri dishes. Each dish was marked with the required seed details for easy recognition. The Petri dishes were filled with PDA and left to harden. Seeds were rinsed gently in a solution of NaOCl (1% chlorine) for 30 s and then in distilled water for 30 s. Once the seeds were cleaned, they were dried by gently patting them with sterilised paper towels. Using aseptic technique, 10 seeds were evenly placed on the surface of the solidified acidified PDA. The dishes were incubated in the dark at 25 ± 2°C for 7 days. The plates were observed using a dissecting microscope after incubation for 3 and 7 days. The seedlings were assessed for fungal growth, fruiting bodies, and disease symptoms. The development of fruiting bodies was utilised to identify fungi, with findings presented as the percentage of seeds affected by the fungal species (Mathur and Kongsdal, 2001).

Data analysis

The collected data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Statistix Software version 10.0. Treatment mean separation was performed using Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test at a 5% probability level.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Effect of seed priming with leaf extracts on plant height, number of branches, and days to 50% flowering at physiological maturity

Figure 1 and Table 3 show that priming the seeds with the leaf extracts significantly increased the plant height and number of branches across the soybean varieties relative to the controls. This may be due to the presence of bioactive chemicals in the leaf extracts, such as minerals, antioxidants, and plant hormones, including gibberellins, which supports early seedling growth, as reported by Ahmad et al. (2019) and Deepak et al. (2020). This observation is in line with prior research showing that priming seeds enhances seedling vigour (Aparna et al., 2025). Seeds primed with 10% NLE produced the tallest plants and the most branches yet significantly similar to those observed in seeds primed with 10% MLE before sowing. Taller plants with more branches improve yield by supporting greater pod production (Xu et al., 2021). The observed varietal differences in plant height may be the result of genetic differences between varieties (Mandić et al., 2020).

The type of botanical seed priming did not influence the number of days to 50% flowering, which ranged between 45 and 51 days (Table 4). This result is consistent with days to 50% flowering of soybean varieties described in the Catalogue of Crop Varieties Released and Registered in Ghana (NASTAG, 2019).

Figure 1 – Effect of seed priming with leaf extracts on the plant height of soybean varieties

Table 3
Influence of seed priming with leaf extracts on the number of branches of soybean varieties at physiological maturity

Soybean variety
Leaf extract	Jenguma	Afayak	Favour	Mean
Neem	14.33^ab	17.00^a	10.67^b	14.00^a
Moringa	13.67^ab	13.00^ab	14.33^ab	13.67^a
Tithonia	12.67^ab	10.33^b	12.00^b	11.67^b
Control	11.00^b	14.00^ab	13.67^ab	12.89^ab
Mean	12.92^a	13.58^a	12.67^a

HSD (0.05) Extract = 1.9461 Variety = 1.5249 Extract × Variety = 4.4133

Means followed by different letters are significantly different based on the honestly significant difference (HSD) test.

Table 4
Effects of seed priming with leaf extracts on the number of days to 50% flowering of soybean varieties

Soybean variety
Leaf extract (10%)	Jenguma	Afayak	Favour	Mean
Neem	50.667^a	48.000^a	48.333^a	49.000^a
Moringa	46.667^a	47.667^a	48.000^a	47.444^a
Tithonia	47.667^a	50.333^a	46.333^a	48.111^a
Control	46.000^a	47.333^a	47.333^a	46.889^a
Mean	47.750^a	48.333^a	47.500^a

HSD (0.05) Extract = 2.6716 Variety = 2.0933 Extract × Variety = 6.0586

Means followed by different letters are significantly different according to the honestly significant difference (HSD) test.

Effects of seed priming with leaf extracts on the 1000-seed weight of three soybean varieties

There were significant interactive effects of botanical seed priming and soybean variety on the 1000-seed weight of seeds after harvest (Table 5). Afayak seeds primed with MLE had the highest 1000-seed weight (110.36 g), which was significantly different from that of the Favour variety primed with NLE, which had the lowest 1000-seed weight (90.08 g). Among the varieties, Afayak consistently recorded the highest 1000-seed weight after harvest, suggesting the influence of genetic variation on seed weight (Mandić et al., 2020). Priming with MLE before sowing resulted in the heaviest seeds after harvest, supporting the results of Srimathi et al. (2021).

Effects of seed priming with leaf extracts on the seed moisture content of soybean seeds after harvest

The differences observed in the moisture content of the soybean seeds primed with different botanical extracts (Table 6) showed that seeds primed with MLE had a relatively high-water content, and those primed with TLE had the lowest moisture content. The interaction between the type of botanical seed priming and soybean variety showed varying seed moisture contents. This observation may be due to the initial moisture content of the seeds before drying since the pods were air-dried for the same period. Thus, seeds with a higher initial moisture content may retain more moisture after air drying (Hemhirun and Bunyawanichakul, 2020).

Effect of seed priming with leaf extracts on the seed vigour (electrical conductivity) of soybean seeds after harvest

This study found differences in seed vigour after harvest, particularly in relation to EC, which was affected by the soybean variety and the type of leaf extract used to prime the seeds (Table 7). Seeds with a high conductivity are seen as having low vigour, whereas seeds with low conductivity are considered to have a high vigour.

The seed vigour was high with the EC ranging between 17 and 34 μS cm⁻¹g⁻¹, which falls within the recommended EC levels reported by Milošević (2010), who found that seeds with an EC below 25 μS cm⁻¹g⁻¹ were of high vigour and those with an EC higher than 35 μS cm^-1g^-1 were of low vigour. Seeds obtained from plants whose seeds were primed with TLE before sowing generally had high solute leakage values compared to other treatments, with significant variations observed among the soybean varieties.

Favour seeds had the highest EC values, but they were statistically similar to Afayak. The lowest EC values were recorded for Jenguma.

Impact of seed priming with leaf extracts on the final germination percentage of soybean seeds after harvest

The results (Table 8) indicated a high germination capacity ranging between 80 and 95%, which was above the minimum germination percent for soybean seeds of 75%, as indicated in the Seed Certification and Standard Regulation (SCSR (L.I. 2363), 2018). There were no significant effects of the soybean variety × botanical seed priming interaction or soybean variety. However, significant differences were observed among the seed treatments before sowing.

Seeds harvested from plants grown from seeds primed with MLE recorded the highest germination percentage but were similar to that observed for seeds harvested from the control and NLE-primed plants. The lowest germination percent was recorded for TLE-primed plants. This may have occurred because the seeds were freshly harvested with a high purity and were undeteriorated.

These findings are in line with those of Sibande et al. (2015), who showed that freshly harvested soybean seeds had a higher germination percentage and declined with storage time.

Effect of seed priming with leaf extracts on seed health

Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the percentage incidence of fungi identified after harvest. Four fungal species were identified on the harvested soybean seeds: Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Colletotrichum gloesporoides.

These fungal species are common species classified as storage fungi (Shovan et al., 2008) and/or field fungi of seed crops (Mashilla, 2004). There was no significant level of incidence observed for the identified fungal species to cause a disease. Only Colletotrichum, which causes anthracnose, falls under the reported group of fungi that are pathogenic to soybean seeds (Hosseini et al., 2023).

Table 5
Influence of priming seed with leaf extracts on the 1000-seed weight (g) of soybean varieties

Soybean variety
Leaf extract (10%)	Jenguma	Afayak	Favour	Mean
Neem	98.42^bc	102.50^ab	90.08^c	97.00^a
Moringa	93.68^bc	110.36^a	98.94^bc	100.99^a
Tithonia	96.20^bc	102.54^ab	77.86^d	92.20^b
Control	92.70^bc	99.44^bc	96.80^bc	96.31^ab
Mean	95.25^b	103.71^a	90.92^c

HSD (0.05) Extract = 4.7531 Variety = 3.7243 Extract × Variety = 10.779

Means followed by different letters are significantly different according to the honestly significant difference (HSD) test.

Table 6
Effects of priming seeds with leaf extracts on the moisture content (%) of seeds of different soybean varieties after harvest

Soybean variety
Leaf extract (10%)	Jenguma	Afayak	Favour	Mean
Neem	12.467^a	10.533^cde	10.567^cde	11.189^ab
Moringa	10.700^cd	11.333^bc	12.300^ab	11.444^a
Tithonia	9.600^e	9.933^de	10.000^de	9.844^c
Control	9.967^de	12.033^ab	10.600^cde	10.867^b
Mean	10.683^a	10.958^a	10.867^a

HSD (0.05) Extract = 0.4697 Variety = 0.3680 Extract × Variety = 1.0651

Means followed by different letters are significantly different according to the honestly significant difference (HSD) test.

Table 7
Influence of seed priming with leaf extracts on the electrical conductivity (μScm⁻¹g⁻¹) of different soybean varieties

Soybean variety
Leaf extract (10%)	Jenguma	Afayak	Favour	Mean
Neem	22.670^f	24.970^ef	29.163^cd	25.601^b
Moringa	24.130^f	19.667^g	19.697^g	21.164^d
Tithonia	30.167^bc	32.657^ab	33.807^a	32.210^a
Control	27.200^de	24.353^ef	18.950^g	23.501^c
Mean	26.042^a	25.412^a	25.404^a

HSD (0.05) Extract = 1.2850 Variety = 1.0068 Extract × Variety = 2.9141

Means followed by different letters are significantly different according to the honestly significant difference (HSD) test.

Table 8
Effects of seed priming with leaf extracts on the germination percentage (%) of the harvested seeds of different soybean varieties

Soybean variety
Leaf extract (10%)	Jenguma	Afayak	Favour	Mean
Neem	91.333^a	85.333^a	86.000^a	87.556^ab
Moringa	90.667^a	90.667^a	94.667^a	92.000^a
Tithonia	82.000^a	80.667^a	82.000^a	81.556^b
Control	88.000^a	85.333^a	94.667^a	89.333^a
Mean	88.000^a	85.500^a	89.333^a

HSD (0.05) Extract = 7.0675 Variety = 5.5377 Extract × Variety = 16.028

Means followed by different letters are significantly different according to the honestly significant difference (HSD) test.

Figure 2 – Interactive effect of botanical seed priming with leaf extracts on the percentage of soybean seeds infected with Aspergillus flavus after harvest

Figure 3 – Interactive effect of seed priming with leaf extracts on the percentage of soybean seeds infected with Aspergillus fumigatus after harvest

Figure 4 – Interactive effect of botanical seed priming with leaf extracts on the percentage of soybean seeds infected with Aspergillus niger after harvest

Figure 5 – Interactive effect of botanical seed priming with leaf extracts on the percentage of soybean seeds infected with Colletotrichum spp. after harvest

The incidence of Colletotrichum spp. on the harvested seeds ranged from 0 to 23%. According to Hajji-Hedfi et al. (2024), a disease can only occur when there is a virulent pathogen, a susceptible host, and a favourable environment.

CONCLUSIONS

The study showed that priming soybean seeds with botanical leaf extracts, particularly MLE and NLE, significantly improved the plant height, number of branches, 1000-seed weight, and vigour with minimal impact on the days to 50% flowering and germination percentage after harvest.

The observed enhancement may be linked to the bioactive and mineral compounds contained in the extract that support early growth and improve seed quality after harvest.

The practical implications of these results, particularly priming with MLE and NLE, presents a sustainable and low-cost method for improving soybean growth and quality.

These findings present the opportunity to introduce plant-based seed treatments in agricultural practices to enhance food security while minimising the use of synthetic chemicals.

Author contributions: Conceptualization: NKYA, PKT; Methodology: NKYA, PKT, IAI, BYB; Data analysis: NKYA, PKT, BYB; Investigation: NKYA, PKT, IAI, BYB; Supervision: PKT, IAI; Writing – original draft: PKT, IAI; Writing – review and editing: NKYA, PKT, IAI, BYB. All authors declare that they have read and approved the publication of the manuscript in this present form.

Funding: There was no external funding for this study.

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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