Abstract

                                Seed priming is a widely recommended pre sowing seed treatment, proven for its invigorative effect. An investigation was carried out to study the effect of seed priming with oil cake extracts on physiological seed quality parameters viz., speed of germination, germination, root and shoot length, vigour index and biochemical seed quality parameters viz., electrical conductivity and total amino acid content. Seeds of maize cv TNAU Maize hybrid CO 6 were primed with extracts of various oil cake viz., groundnut, sesame, coconut, cotton and neem each at different concentrations of 5, 10, 15 and 20 % and evaluated for their physiological and biochemical quality along with hydro and nonprimed seed. Among the priming treatments, maize seeds primed with sesame oil cake extract 5 % for 12h showed early germination (6.0), highest germination (92 %), root (22.06 cm) and shoot length (18.72 cm) and vigour index (3752) than nonprimed seeds. The biochemical causes responsible for invigourative effect due to seed priming were identified as enhanced total amino acid content with low electrical conductivity of seed leachate.

Key words: Seed priming, Maize, Oil cake extracts, Germination, Vigour