EFFECT OF HARVESTING STAGES ON SEED QUALITY OF SOYBEAN (Glycine max L.)2913

Abstract
The present investigation was conducted at the Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh during kharif-2018, with an aim to study the effect of harvesting stages (H1=One pod mature in plant, H2=Physiological maturity, H3=One week after physiological maturity, and H4=Two weeks after physiological maturity) on seed quality in different soybean varieties (V1=GS-1, V2=GS-2 and V3=GJS-3) in the field condition as well as during storage. The experiment was laid out in field as per Randomized Block Design (Factorial) with three replications. The characters viz., fresh weight of hundred pods (g), dry weight of hundred pods (g), fresh weight of hundred seeds (g) and dry weight of hundred seeds (g) were recorded in the field. The seeds harvested as per the treatment combinations from the field experiment were stored in the laboratory for six months and observations viz., moisture content (%), 100 seed weight (g), germination percentage, root length of seedling (cm), shoot length of seedling (cm), seedling length (cm), seedling fresh weight (mg), seedling dry weight (mg), seedling vigour index-I, seedling vigour index-II, electrical conductivity of seed leachates (dS/m) and oil content (%) were recorded initially at the time of storage followed by three months interval up to six months in the laboratory of the Department of Seed Science and Technology, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh. The experimental results revealed that irrespective of harvesting stages, significantly the highest and lowest fresh and dry weight of hundred pods and seeds were recorded in GJS-3 and GS-1, respectively. Irrespective of varieties, significantly the highest fresh weight of hundred pods (53.32 g) and seeds (17.35 g) was recorded, when seeds harvested at H1 (One pod mature in plant). Significantly the highest (36.11 g and 10.04 g) and the lowest (22.36 g and 7.02 g) dry weight of hundred pods and seeds were recorded in H2 (Physiological maturity) and H1 (One pod mature in plant) harvesting stages, respectively. Fresh and dry weight of pods were decreased significantly with advance in maturity, while dry weight of seeds and pods were increased up to physiological maturity and then decreased.Abstract ii Irrespective of the harvesting stages, the moisture content in the seeds, 100 seed weight and electrical conductivity of seed leachates were increased gradually with increased in storage period, while germination, root length, shoot length, seedling length, seedling fresh and dry weight, seedling vigour index (I and II) and oil content were decreased gradually with increased in storage period. At the time of storage, the moisture content recorded the highest (7.51 %) in GJS-3 and after six months of storage, the moisture content, on an average, increased to 0.4 per cent and it was noted the maximum (7.95 %) in GJS-3. More or less the same results were observed for 100 seed weight and EC of seed leachates. Germination was recorded the highest (89.28 %) in GJS-3 at the time of storage, but after six months of storage, germination was noted the maximum (73.75 %) in GJS-3 and that is in decreasing order. Seedling vigour index (I and II) were recorded significantly the highest (1778.45 and 30094.93) in GJS-3 at the time of storage and after six months of storage, they were noted the maximum (1192.54 and 14134.19) in GJS-3. For the remaining traits like, 100 seed weight (9.29 g), root length (9.06 cm), shoot length (10.86 cm), seedling length (19.92 cm), seedling fresh weight (3274.17 mg) and seedling dry weight (336.67 mg), oil content (20.30 %) were recorded maximum in GJS-3 and electrical conductivity of seed leachates (0.810 dS/m) in GS-2 recorded the maximum values at the end of six months storage. Irrespective of varieties, at the time of storage, the maximum moisture content (7.58 %) was noted in H1 (One pod mature in plant) harvesting stage. After six months of storage, the moisture content, on an average, increased to 0.4 per cent and it was recorded significantly the maximum (7.98 %) in the same stage. Irrespective of varieties, at the time of storage, significantly the maximum germination (95.02 %), 100 seed weight (10.68 g), root length (6.87 cm), shoot length (7.91 cm), seedling length (14.78 cm), seedling fresh weight (1873.33 mg), seedling dry weight (174.87 mg), seedling vigour index-I (1141.46) and seedling vigour index-II (13505.21) were recorded maximum in the seeds harvested at H2 (Physiological maturity) stage. After six months of storage, same trend was observed, as significantly the maximum performance for different traits were recorded in the seeds harvested at H2 (Physiological maturity) stage. Overall, looking to the seed quality, it could be suggested that for getting the good quality of soybean seed, soybean seed should be harvested at the H2 (Physiological maturity) harvesting stage, as the seeds harvested at H2 (Physiological maturity) recorded the maximum germination percentage (77.23 %) even after six months of storage with good vigour. Deterioration of seed quality was observed over a period of time in soybean seeds stored under ambient storage condition
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