1Department of Plant Physiology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, India.
2Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, India.
Seed invigoration treatment with Mg(NO3)2 and distilled water in maize varieties KHI-536, CM-211 and CM-119 significantly improved seedling emergence in field conditions, vegetative growth (plant height, length of roots and shoots, no. of leaves, leaf area plant−1, fresh and dry weights of root and shoot) relative water content of shoot and root, circumference of shoot and nitrate reductase activity (in leaves at or up to 54 DAS) and yield attributes (like length of cobs, circumference of cob, No. of cobs per plant, No. of grains per cob, yield plant−1, yield ha−1 and test weight). Seed treatment with Mg(NO3)2 was most effective followed by distilled water treated and directly field sown untreated control seeds. Further, the grain nitrogen was found to improve with Mg(NO3)2 treatment over distilled water and control.
LAI, magnesium nitrate, nitrate reductase, nitrogen content, seed invigoration, yield attributes
