The leaves were oven-dried at 70
C for 3
days,
ground to fine powder, and stored in an air-tight glass container
for subsequent analyses. To measure B content in leaves,
finely
powdered leaf samples were dry-ashed at 500
C for 4 h, and
then
suspended in 0.1 mol L
−1
◦
HCl, followed by determination of
B
concentrations using the curcumin colorimetric method (Hitachi
UV-3100
UV/VIS)(Dibleetal.,1954).