The seed spices comprise of a group which includes all those annuals whose dried fruit or seeds are used as spice. Black cumin is one of the important emerging seed spice/annual spicy herb. In the recent years, the use of elicitors is found to be one of the best possible ways to achieve spectacular progress in increasing production, productivity and quality of seed spices. In this view, a field experiment was carried out with foliar spraying of different elicitors in black cumin. The results of the study inferred that, plants applied with various elicitors exhibited significant differences in growth, phenological and reproductive characters. Application of NAA at 25 ppm recorded maximum plant height (50.6 cm) whereas; the plants treated with ancymidol at 50 ppm manifested the lowest plant height (33.9 cm). Foliar spraying of salicylic acid at 50 ppm recorded maximum stem girth (4.98 mm) at harvest. The maximum fresh and dry weight (42.35 & 8.89 g/plant respectively) of whole plant was noted in plants treated with salicylic acid at 50 ppm. Among the various elicitors tried, application of ancymidol at 50 ppm significantly promoted the synthesis of chlorophyll content (24.33 SPAD value) subsequently by paclobutrazol at 50 ppm (20.50 SPAD value). With respect to reproductive parameters, early flowering and crop maturity was noticed in plants treated with salicylic acid at 50 ppm, which took minimum number of days to first flowering, fifty percent flowering and to reach crop maturity (45.3, 52.2 and 108.1 days respectively).

Nigella sativa L., Black cumin, Elicitors, Phenological characters, Light intensity ratio, Chlorophyll content, SPAD value, Ancymidol, Days to first flower appearance

Black cumin plants applied with various elicitors exhibited significant differences in growth, phenological and reproductive characters. Application of NAA at 25 ppm recorded maximum plant height (50.6 cm) whereas; the plants treated with ancymidol at 50 ppm manifested the lowest plant height (33.9 cm). Manual pinching of black cumin plants at 50 days after sowing recorded highest number of primary and secondary (8.40 and 16.38) branches at harvest, followed by the application of salicylic acid at 50 ppm (8.20 & 15.17). Foliar spraying of salicylic acid at 50 ppm recorded maximum stem girth (4.98 mm) at harvest. There was also a significant difference in fresh and dry weight of whole plant when the elicitors were applied. The maximum fresh and dry weight (42.35 & 8.89 g/plant respectively) of whole plant was noted in plants treated with salicylic acid at 50 ppm. Among the various elicitors tried, application of ancymidol at 50 ppm significantly promoted the synthesis of chlorophyll and recorded maximum chlorophyll content (24.33 SPAD value) subsequently by paclobutrazol at 50 ppm (20.50 SPAD value). With respect to reproductive parameters, early flowering and crop maturity was noticed in plants treated with salicylic acid at 50 ppm, which took minimum number of days to first flowering, fifty per cent flowering and to reach crop maturity (45.3, 52.2 and 108.1 days respectively) as against delayed flowering and crop maturity in plants pinched at 50 DAS (48.5, 59.7 and 112.7 days respectively).

Anilkumar G. S., Umesha K., Arpitha H. S., Halesh G. K. and Harish B. S. (2025). Influence and assessment of elicitor’s application on black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) for growth, phenological and reproductive characters. Biological Forum, 17(9): 133-141.