Abstract

In rainfed cultivation, sorghum seeds are sown as premonsoon sowing, where in seeds must emerge out with the available moisture. Thus, to impart drought resistance to young plants seed hardening is given as presowing management technique which is a boon for dryland agriculture. Short term hydration of seed before planting, greatly benefits stand establishment, but use of chemicals in water like potassium or sodium phosphate will give additional advantage. Apart from seed hardening, pelleting with nutrients or leaf powders is recommended, for absorbing and regulating the soil moisture and to enhance the better seed soil relationship under stress conditions. With this in view, the present investigation was carried out to study the effect of hardening combined with DAP pelleting on productivity and the storability of hardened seeds of sorghum var. APK 1 under rainfed cultivation.

Keywords: Pelleting, sorghum, rainfed agriculture, DAP