SEED FORTIFICATION WITH ZINC AND ITS’S EFFECT ON SEED QUALITY AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF RICE
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Date
2023
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Abstract
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) a member of family Poaceae is a cereal foodstuff which forms an important part of the diet of many people worldwide. It is a staple food for more than 60% of the worldwide population, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain. Rice cultivation in our country is done mostly in the humid tropical and sub- tropical climate which is characterized by high temperature and relative humidity; hence storage may lead to rapid deterioration of seeds. Usually crops seeds are stored from harvest till next growing season and storage duration may vary from months to a year or more. However, the vigour and viability of seeds rapidly decline during storage, and the use of low vigour seeds frequently results in poor field performance, weak seedling growth, and, ultimately, low yield. Assam Agriculture condition with high rainfall and high humidity is not ideal for medium and long-term seed storage. Sometimes it is challenging for seed growers to save the seeds with Indian Minimum Seed Standard for even one growing season. Invigoration of aged seeds after storage is important to enhance the seed quality. For the present investigation, seeds of rice variety Gitesh were taken having two lot, lot 1 (one year old seed) and lot-2 (freshly harvested seed). These two lots were primed for 12 hours with water, ZnSO4(100,200,400,800 mg/liter) and ZnO (100,200,400,800 mg/liter) followed by shade drying for 12 hours and it was evaluated to see the effect of seed treatment with zinc on seed quality and nutritional quality of rice. Seed primed treated with treatment T4 (100 mg/liter ZnSO4) was found to be the best treatment for increasing the germination and field parameters viz., germination first count, germination final count, germination index, root length shoot length seedling dry weight, SVI-I, fresh and dry weight of plant, panicle length, number of grains/panicle and yield/Plant. However, treatment T7 recorded highest (800 mg/litre, ZnSO4) field emergence % and chlorophyll content. Zinc is the most important and limiting micronutrient for rice growth and yield. Reports suggested that seed yield and nutritional attributes can be manipulated with seed treatment with zinc. In the present investigation treatment T9(200 mg/litre, ZnO) recorded highest zinc and total soluble protein content. Significant improvement in germination % was observed with zinc treatment in both the new and old seed lot. However, lot-1(i.e., old seed) where germination % was below IMSC, but increased to certification standard with Zn treatment. Seed yield/plant was found to have positively and highly significantly correlated with all the germination attributes.