Growth
Plant Height
Rice plants were not influenced by varying methods of application. Seed soaking in chitosan solution before planting tended to stimulate plant height. However, it did not show any statistically significant differences from the others, Figure 1(A). This result was supported by the work of(9) who found that foliar application of oligomeric
chitosan did not affect soybean height. On the other hand,(13) revealed that chinese cabbage seeds incorporated with chitosan at the rate of 0.4-0.6 mg/g of seed followed by foliar spraying at 20-40 mg/l reacted with increased plant height and leaf
area of chinese cabbage plants.
Leaf Greenness
Leaf greenness of rice plants measured by chlorophyll meter (SPAD 502) was not
significantly different from treatments that applied chitosan with different application methods. However, soaking the seeds in chitosan solution before planting and soil application four times tended to show the maximum value of leaf greenness over the other treatments, Figure 1(B). Yue, et al. 2001 found that the changing regulation
of chlorophyll content (leaf greenness) correlated with the change in chitosan concentration. Moreover,(4) reported that tomato and lecttuce leaves turned darker green with increasing chitosan concentration.