CROP RESEARCH

Maintenance of seed quality of low volume high value vegetable crops is a big challenge and worth prime owing to their high cost and major role in human dietary. In case of tomato, brinjal and chillies, only healthy looking seedlings are preferred for transplanting as they help in better establishment and disease management. Damping off of seedlings is a serious disease problem caused by various fungal pathogens like Pythium aphimidermatum, Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani and Phomopsis vexans causing considerable damage in the form of yellowing, stunting and consequently the seedling mortality at pre/post-emergence stage. Role of hydropriming, biopriming, polymer film coating, plant growth promoting hormones and plant extracts in seed enhancement was reported in some crops. In the present investigation, hydropriming which is a simple, economical and environment friendly type of priming in which seeds are soaked in water and dried before sowing; biopriming which is a revised version of solid matrix priming alongwith addition of biological control agents known to produce chitinase and B (1–3 glucanase) enzymes which could degrade the cell wall leading to the lysis of hyphae of the pathogen and polymer film coating for superior and efficient binding of applied materials with uniform coverage and reduced leaching of materials, plant growth promoting hormones and plant extracts known for antifungal properties were evaluated for comparative performance against seed en" iancement and nursery management. Polykote film coating @ 3 ml/kg of seed followed by dry dressing of carbendazim @ 2 g/kg of seed was found significantly superior for seed enhancement with lesser percentage of seedling mortality for all the three crops under study.