Effect of seed hydro-priming and urea spray on yield parameters, yield and quality of lentil (Lens culinaris medikus)

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted for three years at Pulses and Oilseeds Research Station, Berhampore, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India during rabi 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 to study the effects of seed hydro-priming and urea spray in lentil. The experiment was laid out in a factorial randomized block design with four replications having ten treatment combinations viz. two levels of seed priming as factor A and five levels of foliar spray of 2% urea solution as factor B. Experimental results revealed that growth, yield attributing characters, yield and seed protein content of lentil were significantly influenced by seed hydro-priming, urea spray and interaction effects of these two factors. Significantly higher seed yield was obtained under the water soaking treatment (1211 kg ha-1) as compared to no soaking (1169 kg ha-1). Among the foliar spray treatments, two sprays at branching and pod initiation stages recorded the highest seed yield (1271 kg ha-1) of lentil cultivar WBL-58 followed by one spray at flower initiation stage (1236 kg ha-1) irrespective of seed priming. Among the interaction effects, two sprays at branching and pod initiation along with water soaking recorded the highest seed yield (1295 kg ha-1) followed by one spray at flower initiation along with water soaking (1265 kg ha-1). Seed hydro-priming and urea spray were found to increase the seed yield of lentil to the tune of 17.9 % and seed protein content by 19% over their non application.