Influence of seed priming with micro-nutrients followed by rhizobium seed coating on seed vigour, crop growth and seed yield in redgram cv. VBN 3

Abstract

Redgram is important pulses crop grown throughout the country, gives low seed yield mainly due to poor management. Development of suitable technology is essential to enhance productivity. Seed priming is one such effective technology to achieve high vigour, better stand establishment and yield. The current study aimed to study the micronutrient seed priming and rhizobium coating on crop growth and seed yield in redgram. Seeds were primed with 10 different micronutrient solutions, evaluated for its quality parameters to find out suitable seed priming technique. Seeds from two best performing priming treatments were coated with rhizobium and evaluated for its production potential. Seed priming with 0.5% ZnSO4 recorded higher germination (86%) and vigour index (3621) than control under laboratory experiment. Field experiments revealed that seeds primed with 0.5% ZnSO4 and coated with rhizobium @ 30 g per kg of seeds improved the seed yield by 18.8% over control.