Seed priming improves crop growth and yield performance of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L) Tiwari TN*, Prasad S Rajendra1, Agrawal DK2 ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau, Uttar Pradesh 1ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 2University of Agricultural Science, Bengaluru *Email: tntdsr@gmail.com
Online published on 23 August, 2019. Abstract Field experiments a were conducted with four levels of seed priming including control and two varieties of pigeonpea at ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau during three consecutive years (2011–12 to 2013–14). One-year-old seeds of pigeonpea varieties (Bahar and Malviya 13) were primed with different priming agents such as growth regulator (100 ppm GA3), in-organic salt (0.2% KNO3) and tap water separately for 06 hours and sown in field under randomized block design with three replications. Observations were recorded on growth parameters, yield attributes and grain yield. Priming with in-organic salts and plant growth regulator showed the significant improvement in plant height (14.18–21.25%), number of branches (27.44–54.20%), yield test attributes including no. biological of pods/plant (16.45–34.40%), Test weight (21.97–41.53%), Biological yield (17.28–28.70%) and grain yield (18.73–35.18%) in both the varieties evaluated. Variety Bahar displayed higher values in all the parameters studied. Top Keywords Pigeonpea, Priming, Seeds, Seedling vigour, Yield and its attributes. Top |