INFLUENCE OF SEED FORTIFICATION ON GERMINATION AND EARLY SEEDLING VIGOUR OF CHILLI
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Date
2023
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Abstract
India is one of the largest producers of chilli peppers with production of 1.98 million tonnes and contributes 43% of total spice export quantity of the country. Chilli belongs to the capsicum genus and encompass various species like Capsicum annuum, Capsicum chinense , Capsicum frutescens , Capsicum baccatum, Capsicum pubescens .There are thousands of chilli varieties worldwide varying in their characters. The main barrier to chilli production is prolonged and uneven germination. There are several methods that can be used to address the poor germination of chillies, and one of them is priming. Seed priming is the technique of carefully hydrating seeds to a point where pre-germination metabolic activity can continue but radicle emergence is prevented. An investigation was conducted in the laboratory of Seed Science and Technology Programme, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam during the year 2022-2023.The pre-sowing seed treatments comprised of T1-untreated control,T2-hydropriming for 24 hours,T3-KNO3 priming @1% for 12hrs, T4-KNO3 priming @1% for 24hrs, T5-KNO3 priming @1.5% for 12hrs, T6-KNO3 priming @1.5% for 24hrs , T7-KNO3 priming @2% for 12hrs, T8-KNO3 priming @2% for 24hrs . All the priming treatments had significant effect on germination, and seed vigour characters .The seed germination parameters viz. germination percentage, days to germinate, germination index ,mean germination time, seedling length, seed vigour index-I, seed vigour index-II, seedling dry weight responded well in T3 in king chilli and capsicum variety Pongal-2and T5 in chilli variety Tez. .Seed cubes were prepared using a combination of soil, sand, saw-dust, coco-peat, vermicompost and cowdung (1:0.5:1:0.5:1:0.25) with 230-250ml of water per kg of medium and then shade dried for 36 hours. In the seed fortification procedure, primed seeds in the seed cubes were found best among all the other treatments for germination and seed vigour characters. It was observed that primed seeds in the cubes performed more efficiently in increasing the germination parameters than the unprimed seeds in the cubes.