A company, Elementol (Pty) Ltd, requested the evaluation of their novel product,
Pheroids. Pheroids can apparently facilitate the transport of phytological beneficial
substances over membranes. Information regarding the chemical attributes was
withheld as patent registration is still pending. Pheroids is apparently a microemulsion
containing free fatty acids (FFAâs) and or fatty acid derivatives. It
apparently encapsulates a substance and facilitates its transport over the
membrane. The exact mechanism involving encapsulation, transport and release of
the substances inside the cells is still vague due to little information available on it.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of Pheroids to facilitate the transport
of additional nitrogen, urea in this case, in tomatoes grown under nitrogen limiting
conditions. Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Rodade Star) were cultivated in
a greenhouse using a circulating ebb and flow hydroponic setup, which supplied the
plants with either a control- or nitrogen limiting nutrient solutions. The plants
cultivated in the nitrogen limiting conditions showed a remarkable reduction in
vegetative development and yield. To alleviate the effect of nitrogen limiting
conditions on yield, the plants were foliarly sprayed with 0.5% and 1% urea
solutions, singly or mixed with Pheroids, once every two weeks. The purpose of
these foliar treatments was to determine whether Pheroids can further enhance the
absorption and transport of urea across membranes of the leaves to alleviate the
effect of limiting nitrogen supply. Plants grown under nitrogen adequate conditions
(control) were also foliarly treated with a 0.5% urea solution, singly and mixed with
Pheroids, to determine to which extent control plants react to the additional nitrogen
supplied. The reduction in yield, as a result of limited nitrogen supply, was partially alleviated
by spraying nitrogen deficient plants with the 0.5% and 1% urea solutions. However,
mixing the 0.5% and 1% urea solutions with Pheroids, not only improved vegetative
growth and generative development, but also improved yield, suggesting that
Pheroids indeed has the ability to improve the uptake of urea. The 0.5% urea /
Pheroids solution specifically proved to have the best ability in alleviating the effect
of nitrogen limiting conditions on yield without compromising fruit quality. Although
the reducing effect was not completely alleviated, the yield and loss in income as a
result of nitrogen limiting conditions was prevented to a large extent.
Spraying control plants with 0.5% urea, singly or mixed with Pheroids, also improved
yield, without compromising fruit quality. In addition, Pheroids itself, without mixing it
with any substance, also resulted in increased yields in both control- and plants
grown under nitrogen limiting conditions.
In summary, it appeared that Pheroids has the ability to facilitate the transport of
phytological beneficial substances, in this case urea, over plant membranes and
enhances cellular nitrogen content, but this needs further detailed analyses. This
phenomenon was more evident in plants grown under nitrogen limiting conditions
than in plants grown under control conditions. Taking into consideration that most
crops frequently may suffer from nitrogen limiting conditions in standard agricultural
practices, Pheroids may have numerous potential applications in the agricultural
industry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-03222011-153117 |
| Date | 22 March 2011 |
| Creators | Pretorius, Hendri |
| Contributors | Dr GP Potgiete |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-03222011-153117/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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