1Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
2Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
3Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
4Department of Plant Pathology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
*Corresponding Author: Poovarasan T., Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India, Email: poovarasanvel1996@gmail.com
Online Published on 01 October, 2024.
Endophytes are generally defined as symptomless fungal or bacterial microorganisms, which are associated with their host plants by colonizing the internal plant parts, which has made them as a valuble tool in improving crop performance in agriculture. With this view, the study was conducted to assess the efficacy of endophytes when used as seed biopriming agent on plant growth and seed yield of hybrid maize COH(M) 8 under field conditions during 2021-2022.
The present study was carried out with different endophytic seed priming for 12 hrs duration at the ratio of 1:1 volume/volume with Beauveria bassiana @ 5%, Metarhizium anisopliae @ 5% and Bacillus subtilis @ 8% along with hydro priming and untreated control combined with foliar spray at 30th and 50th days after sowing (DAS).
The results revealed that among various endophytes used in this study, M. anisopliae @ 5% when used for biopriming of seeds as well as for foliar spraying @ 0.5% maximized the plant height (208.4 cm @ 45 DAS and 247.8 cm @ 75 DAS), leaf length (76.0 cm) chlorophyll (chl) content (chl a 0.423 mg/g, chl b 0.229 mg/g and total chl 0.652 mg/g), cob length (21.2 cm), seed yield/plot (6.89 kg) and seed yield/ha (5744 kg).
Endophytes, Maize, Metarhizium anisopliae, Seed priming, Seed yield
