Abstract

                                Rice is the staple food of over 60% of world population and contributes about 40% of dietary requirements. Rice seeds being its orthodox nature can be stored and used for seed purpose upto 9 months under ambient condition. Seed, the basic biological entity for any crop production starts ageing immediately after it attain physiological maturity in the mother plant. The living unit starts respire when it gets separated from its source of origin and there starts the seed age. Several studies were conducted at the Dept. of Seed Science and Technology, Coimbatore in many crop varieties, about the use of fresh and old seeds for sowing. Those studies revealed that no significant variation for the vigour and production potential of fresh and old seeds. However the aged seeds registered decline in values of all the vigour parameters as the period of storage prolongs

Key words : Seed Age and vigour, performance assessment, ASD rice varieties