Studies on priming technology for enhancing planting value yield and seed quality of Lentil under sub optimal conditions

Abstract

Lentil is an important food legume of Northern India where rainfall is not only newlinelow but also variable. The lentil suffers considerable yield losses because of various newlinebiotic and/or abiotic stresses. Seed priming can be considered as a solution against newlineproblems related to germination, seedling vigour and crop stand establishment when newlineseeds are grown under unfavourable conditions. Since the effect of seed priming on newlinefield performance of lentil is poorly documented, this research was aimed to newlineinvestigate the effects of priming on seed invigoration and planting value of the crop newlinein the field. The experiment was carried out during the Rabi 2019-20 and 2020-21 newlineseason at Oil Seed Farm, CSAUandT, Kanpur. There were two varieties KLB-303 newline(V1) and K-75 (V2) and 14 priming treatments viz., T1-Control (Untreated), T2 - newlineControl (recommended seed treatments as per package of practices), T3- newlineHydropriming (Soaking in water for 8h at 250C and air drying at 250C for 48h), T4 newlineHalopriming (Soaking in KNO3 at 0.3% solution and drying), T5- Halopriming newline(Soaking in KH2PO4 at 0.5% solution and drying), T6-Halopriming (Soaking in newlineZn2SO4 at 0.3%+MnSO4 at 0.5% solution and drying), T7-Seed coating (on dry newlineseeds) with T. harzianum at 15g/kg seed, T8-Seed coating (on hydro-primed seeds) newlinewith T. harzianum at 15g/kg seed, T9-Seed coating (on hydroprimed seeds) with newlineBioNPK, T10-Seed coating (on hydroprimed seeds) with Biogrow, T11-Seed coating newline(on hydroprimed seeds) with Biophos, T12-Seed coating (on hydroprimed seeds) newlinewith Drought Alleviating Bacteria+ BioNPK, T13-Seed coating (on hydroprimed newlineseeds) with Drought Alleviating Bacteria+ Biogrow, T14 - Seed coating (on newlinehydroprimed seeds) with Drought Alleviating Bacteria+ Biophos. Among seed newlinepriming treatments, maximum field emergence (95.67%), seedling length (13.24cm), newlineseedling dry weight (0.127gm), vigour index-I (1267.13), vigour index-II (11.96), newlinefinal plant stand establishment (93.17%), 1000-seed weight (24.09 g), yield newline(14.68q/ha)