Investigating the Protein Percentage, Yield and Yield Components of Soybean Using Ellagic Acid

Ellagic acid is a natural polyphenol compound that has strong antioxidant properties and reduces the effects of various stresses in plants. In order to investigate the effect of ellagic acid on protein percentage and soybean yield, an experiment was conducted in the two crop years of 2018 and 2019 in the research farm of Shahrood University of Technology. Treatments include accelerated aging on two levels of normal seed and aged seed and the application of ellagic acid on four levels (control, seed pre-treatment, foliar spraying and the combination of seed pre-treatment and foliar spraying with ellagic acid with a concentration of 50 mg/L) in the form of a factorial experiment with a basic design of randomized complete blocks in three replications. The number of pods per plant, the number of seeds per pod and the 100 seed weight per plant obtained from aged seeds decreased by 11.64, 4.16, and 13.13%, respectively, compared to the control. The combined use of seed pretreatment and foliar spraying of ellagic acid in normal and aging conditions caused a significant increase of 10.00 and 11.30% in the number of seeds in the pod compared to the non-application of this substance in these conditions. The combined use of seed pretreatment and foliar spraying of ellagic acid caused an increase of 20.89 and 51.93% in the weight of 100 seed and seed yield, respectively, compared to the control. The application of ellagic acid in normal conditions did not show any effect on the protein percentage, while the use of this substance in aging conditions by the form of seed pretreatment, foliar spraying and the combined use of seed pretreatment and foliar spraying, led to an increase of 0.88, 0.40, and 0.86 percent of protein, respectively. It is possible to suggest the combined use of pretreatment and foliar spraying with ellagic acid to increase seed yield and protein percentage in plants obtained from normal and aged soybean seeds.