EFFECTS OF BOTANICALS AND BIOAGENTS ON STORAGE BEHAVIOUR OF BLACK GRAM (Vigna mungo) SEEDS
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Date
2017-07
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Publisher
AAU, Jorhat
Abstract
Black gram (Vigna mungo) is the fourth important pulse crop in India, covering
an area of about 3.1 million hectares and contributing to 10-12 per cent of national share
among the total pulse production. Due to the tropical and humid climate of India,
storage of black gram seeds till next sowing season is the most severe problem, with an
average damage percentage of nearly 14.97 under storage conditions. Since, pre-storage
seed treatment is very important to keep the seed quality good up to next season, in the
present investigation, the effect of a few botanicals and bioagents was observed on the
storage behaviour of black gram seeds.
The seeds were treated with three botanicals viz., Turmeric powder, Neem leaf
powder and Black pepper powder and with two bioagent formulations viz., Biogreen
and Biotime. Different seed quality parameters like moisture content, germination
percentage, seedling vigour index, field emergence and mycoflora association were
observed initially and at an interval of two months up to nine months (270 days) of
storage.
At the end of nine months of storage, lowest moisture content was observed in
Turmeric powder treated seeds (8.90 per cent), followed by the untreated control (9.00
per cent), Black pepper treated seeds (9.16 per cent) and Neem leaf treated seeds (9.30
per cent). However, all these treatments were statistically at par. Highest germination
(78.67 per cent) and seed vigour index (1517.63) were observed in the seeds treated
with Black pepper powder which were at par with those of Neem leaf powder treated
seeds and Turmeric powder treated seeds. Highest field emergence after nine months of
storage, was observed in seeds treated with Neem leaf powder (75.33 per cent) followed
by seeds treated with Turmeric powder (73.51per cent) and Black pepper power
(72.41per cent). The seeds treated with bioagents showed low germination as well as
low vigour throughout the storage period. Five organisms viz., Aspergillus flavus, A.
niger, Rhizopus spp., Fusarium spp. and Penicillium spp. were found to be associated
with the seeds under storage. However, in the seeds treated with bioagents Fusarium
and Penicillium were absent. The present findings revealed that the seeds treated with
botanicals had good effect on seed quality and can be used as an alternative of
chemicals in seed treatment.