INFLUENCE OF VACUUM PACKAGING ON SEED PHYSIOLOGY AND QUALITY IN DIFFERENT FIELD CROPS
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Date
2014-12
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University of Agricultural Sciences Dharwad
Abstract
Investigations were carried out to study the influence of vacuum packaging on Seed physiology and quality in different field crops viz., onion, cotton, soybean and groundnut in the Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad from October, 2010 to June, 2012.The research study including two experiments consisted of six treatments to each and combinations of treatments that involved packing of seeds with different packaging materials such as vacuum packed bag, gunny, high density polythene, aluminium and cloth bags and storage at room temperature (25ºC ± 2ºC) as well as cold storage (4ºC ± 1ºC) for a period of 18 months.
The result of the observations recorded at bi-monthly intervals revealed that the seeds stored in vacuum packed bags maintained the seed quality with least deterioration compared to gunny and high density polythene (HDPE) bags for soybean and groundnut and aluminium and cloth bags for onion and cotton upto 18 months of storage. The seed quality parameters viz., germination per cent, root length, shoot length, total seedling length, seedling dry weight, seedling vigour index, mean daily germination and mean germination time were very high in vacuum packaging treatments compared to gunny bags and HDPE bags for soybean and groundnut while it was lower in aluminium and cloth bags for onion and cotton throughout the storage period of 18 months under both ambient and cold storage. The electrical conductivity and mean germination time values were lesser in vacuum packed seeds compared to gunny, HDPE, aluminium and cloth bags seeds. Different seed physiological parameters such as mineral content (Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn) and mobilization efficiency values were decreased with advancement in storage period and higher in vacuum packed seeds than gunny, HDPE, cloth and aluminium bags.
The rate of absorbance of moisture was more in gunny, cloth and HDPE bags, while aluminium and vacuum packed bags seeds maintained constant moisture content. The activities of enzymes viz., -amylase, lipase and protease less in vacuum packed bags compared to aluminium, HDPE, gunny and cloth bags in all four crop seeds. Among the storage conditions, cold storage recorded better seed quality, physiological and biochemical parameters over room temperature, irrespective of storage containers throughout the storage period of 18 months.
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