Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

Pigeonpea seeds were primed with CaCl₂ (2%), ZnSO₄ (100 ppm), KH₂PO⁴ (1%), KCl (1%), MnSO₄ (100 ppm) and water. Primed seeds of ZnSO₄ showed increased germination (92%), drymatter production (0.399 mg seedlings⁻¹⁰) and least values for electrical conductivity (0.110 dSm⁻¹), leachate aminoacid (37.82 #g g⁻¹) and lipid peroxidation (0.137 OD). The best priming treatment was taken to field trial. The plant bioregulators viz., GA₃ (200 ppm), NAA (200 ppm), miraculan 2.0 ml/l, cytozyme 2.0 ml/l, CCC 200 ppm and diammonium phosphate 2% were sprayed at 65 days and 80 days after sowing. Under field trial seed priming with ZnSO₄ (100 ppm) and foliar spray with CCC 200 ppm reduced the plant height (131 cm), produced more number of branches (18), flowers (993), pods (527), highest seed yield (1520 kg/ha) and 100 seed weight (8.77 g) in kharif season.