Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, India.
An experiment was conducted to know the efficacy of seed hardening and pelleting treatments on physiological and biochemical characteristics of bajra (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) seeds and on the productivity under rainfed condition. All the seed hardening and pelleting treatments enhanced the quality of seeds by modifying physio-chemical properties of seeds. Among the different treatments tried, seed hardening with 0.1ppm brassinolide for 6 h, excelled others in improving germination (96 per cent), drymatter production (5.6 mg seedling−1), vigour index (538), a-amylase activity (8.8 mm) and chlorophyll content of seedlings (1.49 mg g−1) under laboratory condition and grain yield (2518 kg ha−1) under rainfed condition.
