Seed invigoration and yield of lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) through seed priming under different seeding rates.

摘要

Field experiment to investigate the germination potential, seedling vigor and yield of lentil (Lens culinaris, Medik.) var 'PL-4' against three seed rates with hydro-primed, osmo-primed, sprouted seeds and unprimed seeds under tilled soil situation was conducted during rabi seasons of 2008-09 and 2009-10. The treatment was laid out under split plot design using hydro-primed, osmo-primed with 1% KH₂PO₄, sprouted and unprimed seeds in the main plot and three seeding rates of 40, 50 and 60 kg/ha in the subplot. The result revealed that hydro-primed seeds significantly increased the percent germination (96.13%), nodules/plant (11.05), pods/plant (43.27) and seeds/pod (1.91) as compared to rest of the priming methods but sprouted seed indicated better results statistically at par with hydro and osmo-priming in respect of root length (18.63 cm) and shoot length (28.63 cm), seedling vigor (4.35). Branches/plant (13.12) and test weight (2.11 g) showed insignificantly higher values in osmo-priming. Highest yield was achieved with sprouted seed (844.90 kg/ha) which was statistically at par with rest of the treatments except unprimed seed. All the seed rates indicated no significant differences among them in respect of germination %, seedling vigor and other growth parameters, seeds/plant and test weight except nodule count, branches/plant, pods/plant and grim yield in which medium seed rate (50 kg/ha) was superior over rest of the seed rates. Interaction effect indicated that, sprouted seeds with medium seed rate (50 kg/ha) resulted in significantly higher yield (856.27 kg/ha). A remarkable increase in yield was observed when seeds primed either with distilled water (hydro-primed) or KH₂PO₄ (osmo-primed) were subjected to higher seed rate. Sprouted seed and all priming agents indicated better yield than unprimed seeds while medium seed rates gave higher grain yield over lower and higher seed rates. Sprouted seeds with 50 kg/ha seed rate was optimum in rainfed lentil cultivation under conventional tilled soil condition.