Enhancement of seed quality through seed priming in pegion pea

A pot experiment was conducted to study the effect seed in two varieties of pigeon pea at ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau. The one year old seeds of pigeonpea (Bahar and Malviya 13) were primed with growth regulators (100 ppm GA3), in-organic salt (0.2% KNO₃) and tap water for 12 hours. The priming of pigeonpea seed with different agent significantly enhanced the seed germination, speed of germination, seedling growth, vigour and activity of germination related enzymes over unprimed control. Among the treatments, priming with GA3 resulted in maximum increase in germination (13.56%), speed of germination (61.87%), root length (13.93%), shoot length (13.20%), seedling dry weight (17.31%), vigour index I (26.30%) and vigour index II (32.20%) over unprimed control. The activity of germination enzymes like α-amylase and protease was influenced maximum by GA3 followed by KNO3 salt. Among the treatments, priming with GA3 (100 ppm) for 12 hrs was found superior to get the better germination, speed of germination, seedling growth/stand establishment and activity of germination enzymes. It is an easy and cost effective technology for increasing the income of resource poor farmers.