Effect of priming on enhancing storability of high and low vigour brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) seeds.

The present study was on brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) seeds var. Punjab Nagina. The quality of brinjal seeds in terms of vigour and viability severely declines due to natural ageing during storage between harvesting and the next sowing season. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of various priming treatments on the quality and storability of brinjal seeds. The freshly harvested seed was divided into two lots. One of these seed lots was subjected to accelerated ageing to obtain low-vigour seed and the other lot was considered to be high vigour. The high and low-vigour seeds were primed with KNO₃ (1%), GA₃ (100ppm), KH₂PO₄ (0.1M), PEG 6000 (30%) and H₂O, respectively, for 12 hours at 25°C. Thereafter, the seeds were stored in moisture-impervious bags for 12 months in a refrigerator (4°C). The objective was to observe whether the priming treatments improve the seed vigour and retain the advantages obtained during storage. The seeds were drawn at three monthly intervals, viz., zero, three, six, nine and twelve months of storage for studying germination percentage, speed of germination, mean days to germination, seedling length, root length, shoot length, seedling dry weight and seedling vigour index. With an increase in storage duration, a decline in the physiological aspect of seed quality was observed in both high and low-vigour seeds. All the priming treatments improved the germination-related parameters in both high and low-vigour seeds over control, but the extent of improvement varied. Seed priming with GA₃ (100ppm) and KNO₃ (1%) were the best treatments for both high and low-vigour seeds, even after storage for 12 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]