SANGEETA I. MACHAKULSUMBI, A. K.2020-07-212020-07-212018-07-30200http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810149539The laboratory experiments were carried at Department of Seed Science and Technology, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences Raichur, to know the dormancy duration and effect of priming on seed quality of spinach. The experiment was laid down in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The first experiment was conducted to assess the duration of dormancy in spinach. The dormancy duration of 35 days was observed with 65.5 per cent of germination. The second experiment consisted of 21 dormancy breaking treatments, among them thiourea (1%) recorded significantly highest seed quality parameters viz., normal seedlings (88.25%), speed of germination (26.95), root length (7.33 cm), shoot length (8.22 cm), seedling dry weight (11.56 mg), seedling vigour index (1372) and lowest electrical conductivity (0.219 dSm-1) compared to control. The third experiment was conducted to standardize the hydro-priming duration where the seeds were soaked at different durations from 0 to 32 hours with 4 hours interval differences, the results showed significantly highest seed quality parameters at 24 hours duration. Another experiment was conducted where seeds were primed with 11 priming treatments for 24 hours duration. The results showed KNO3 (1%) to be the best priming treatment to get significantly maximum seed quality parameters viz., field emergence (87.5%), germination (98.5%), speed of germination (42.55), root length (7.0 cm), shoot length (8.39 cm), seedling dry weight (21.38 mg), seedling vigour index (1517), germination rate index (4276), peak value of germination (24.69), mean germination time (1.58), dehydrogenase activity (0.443 OD value), alpha amylase activity (8.31 mm), catalase enzyme activity (481 nmol/g), peroxidase enzyme activity (630 nmol/g) and lowest electrical conductivity (0.231 dSm-1) compared to other treatments and control where field emergence and germination showed 11 and 10 per cent increase respectively, over control.ennullThesis