Abstract

An experiment was conducted to ascertain the effect of pre-sowing seed invigouration treatment on both high and low vigour seeds of pearlmillet. The various treatments namely water hydration for 16 h and drying at room temperature below 25°C (T1), cold hydration for 72 h at 10°C and surface drying (T2), gibberellic acid hydration (50 ppm) for 16 h and surface drying at room temperature below 25°C (T3), Osmo conditioning with PEG 6000 solution (-10 bars) at 15°C for 7 days (T4), water hydration+ dry dressing with thiram (0.25% ) (T5) and 2 per cent KH2PO4 hydration for 16 h at room temperature (T6) were employed and tested for germination, seedling growth, crop stand establishment and seed yield. Among the seed lots tested, irrespective of the treatments, high vigour seed lot (S1) registered higher germination per cent, seedling dry weight (mg 10 seedlings-1), field stand per cent and number of plants/4m row and less number of days to 50% flowering compared to low vigour seed lot (S). Among the treatments, the seeds invigourated with 2% KH2PO4 for 16 h (T6) improved the germination per cent and seedling dry weight followed by hydration with GA3 at 50 ppm (T2) for 16 h. The field stand per cent and number of plants per 4 m row was maximum in T3 followed by T6 and seed yield (kg h-1) was also maximum in T6 followed by T3 and T5.

Keywords: Bajra, Presowing seed invigouration, Crop stand establishment, Yield.