Effect of Botanical Extract Treatments on Seed Quality of Urdbean (Vigna mungo L.) during Post-Harvest Storage

The effect of seed treatment and foliar sprays of four botanical extracts viz., Lantana camara, Adhatoda vasica, Azadirachta indica and Ocimum sanctum on urdbean cv. TPU-4 was assessed. The sprays were given at 20 days after sowing, 50% flowering and pod filling stages. The harvested seeds from each treatment were also treated with the above botanicals for 2 hr (as per treatment) before sowing. The leaf extracts of O. sanctum, A. indica and L. camara and malathion 50EC (@ 0.05%) improved seed quality parameters. The moisture content, germination, seedling dry matter content, vigour index and pest damage were significantly influenced by all the botanicals and malathion 50EC. Further, the harvested seeds stored in polythene + cloth bags gave not only higher germination, seedling dry matter content and vigour index but also had lower moisture content and showed less pest damage than the seeds stored in cloth bags alone.