Micro-nutrients Seed Priming and rhizobium Coating on Seed Vigour, Crop Growth and Seed Yield in Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.)

Abstract

Background: Black gram is the important pulses crop, grown throughout the country; gives low seed yield mainly due to poor management and low soil fertility. Development of suitable technology is essential to enhance productivity. Seed priming is one such effective technology which enhance rapid and uniform emergence to achieve high vigour, leading to better stand establishment and yield. The current research aimed to study micronutrient seed priming and rhizobium coating on seed germination, seedling vigour, crop growth and seed yield in black gram. Methods: Blackgram seeds were primed with 10 different micronutrient solutions with different concentrations and evaluated for its quality parameters to find out suitable seed priming technique. Seeds from two best priming treatments were coated with rhizobium @ 30 g/kg of seed and evaluated for its production potential and resultant seed quality under field condition. Result: Seed priming with 0.5% ZnSO4 at 1/3rd seed to solution ratio for 3 hours recorded higher germination (96%) and vigour index (3811) than control which recorded 84% seed germination and 2528 of vigour index under laborat ory experiment. Field experiments revealed that, seeds primed with 0.5% ZnSO4 and coated with rhizobium @ 30 g per kg of seeds improved seed yield by 13.2% over control.