Abstract

Drought is a critical factor affecting the growth and yield of cassava. This experiment aimed to compare the effects of different types and concentrations of plant growth regulators in enhancing drought tolerance during the vegetative stage of cassava. The cassava cultivar KMUC-52-12 was utilized, and the experiment was designed as a factorial randomized complete block design with two factors: water availability and plant growth regulator treatments. The water treatments included two levels: 10 and 3 mm/day. The plant growth regulator treatments consisted of five applications: water spray (control), acetic acid at 10 mM, acetic acid at 20 mM, jasmonic acid at 0.05 mM, and jasmonic acid at 0.1 mM. Measurements were taken for plant height, the number of leaves, and the number of yellow leaves. Statistical analysis of variance revealed significant differences in the number of cassava leaves under drought conditions for 4 weeks compared to well-watered conditions. Notably, spraying with acetic acid at 20 mM resulted in a higher number of leaves under drought conditions than under well-watered conditions. However, spraying with jasmonic acid at 0.05 mM increased the number of leaves but did not surpass that of the control group. The findings suggest that acetic acid at an appropriate concentration can enhance drought resilience in cassava.