RAME GOWDASURABHI, V. K.2023-01-052023-01-052021-03-24Th-12886https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810191294An experiment was conducted to study the influence of seed treatment with nanoparticles on seed quality and storability in pigeonpea. Seeds were treated with ZnO, Ag and SiO2 in both nano and bulk forms at different concentrations (100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000mg). Wet seed treatment with nanoparticles showed reduced seed germination (%) and SVI-II even at 100ppm of ZnO NPs, Ag NPs and SiO2 NPs (82% and 2517), (80% and 2393) and (83% and 2668), respectively compared to control (95% and 3642). Dry seed treatment with SiO2 NPs @ 250mg recorded significantly higher germination (98%), seedling dry weight (47.80mg/seedling), field emergence (94%), SVI-II (4668), total dehydrogenase activity (1.651), lowest electrical conductivity (11.93µS/cm/g) and seed infection (0.50%) followed by ZnO NPs @ 500mg over control. Similar trend was also observed during the storage period. At the end of ten months of storage, SiO2 NPs @ 250mg recorded significantly higher germination (80%), seedling dry weight (43.98mg/seedling), field emergence (63%), SVI-I (2994), SVI-II (3518), TDH (1.196),minimum T50 (3.81days), lowest electrical conductivity (41.29µS/cm/g) and seed infection (13.00%) followed by ZnO NPs @ 500mg against control (61%, 36.25mg/seedling, 45%, 1957, 2224, 0.925, 4.34days, 55.42µS/cm/g and 29.33%, respectively). Bio-efficacy study of nanoparticles on Callosobruchus chinensis showed that SiO2 NPs @ 250mg recorded considerably reduced number of eggs per seed (0.93), adult emergence (3.61%), growth index (0.10) and seed damage (3.33%) followed by Ag NPs @ 250mg compared to control (3.48, 72.88%, 2.19, 85.00%, respectively). Genotoxicity study on seed treatment with nanoparticles revealed that the DNA stability did not alter in any nano treatments since the banding pattern was same as that of untreated seeds. Thus, the findings of the study discovered the positive effect of nanoparticles and therefore, could be used as safe seed treatment method to enhance seed quality and storability of pigeonpea.EnglishThesis