Effect of Seed Priming on Production of Wheat under Different Tillage Operations

Abstract

| Wheat is a major diet component for humans in daily life. In addition to being a major source of starch and energy, wheat also provides substantial amounts of a number of components which are essential or beneficial for health. However, its production is being reduced day by day due to many issues but one of them is late sowing. Subsequently, it reduces grain filling and also production. This emerging issue can be solved by using the seed priming techniques. An experiment with randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two factors on area of four-acre land was conducted. Further, four treatments have been adopted like hydro priming, osmo-priming, on-farm priming, and control under different tillage operations just like zero tillage, conventional tillage, deep tillage, and bed sowing. Result showed that osmo-priming is the best method to increase the plant height (94.74cm), tillers (311.49 m-2), spike length (10.18cm), number of grains per spike (43.24), grain yield (4244.8kg ha-1), straw yield (8330.5kg ha-1) and Harvest Index (33.81%) especially in late-sown wheat. It should help to reduce the time to germinate and increases metabolic actions in plants. Healthy seedling germination will increase the yield of the crop. Moreover, it was concluded that osmo-priming is best for farmers to reduce the negative effects of zero tillage and by time of bed sowing, and then it will produce maximum results. Further, it will helpful for the farmers to enhance their income.