EMERGENT LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH - Vol 6, Issue 2, Published on 31, December 2020

Pages: 32-37
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Impact of seed priming on water productivity and performances of wheat (Triticum aestivum L) varieties

Author: P. S. Patra, A. Sarkar, A. Choudhury, Rajesh Saha

Category: Research Article

Abstract:

Followed by rice, wheat pays a major portion to the food basket of the country and it appeared as the second important cereal crop of India. Availability of quality irrigation water determines the economic yield, because wheat production depends on a secure irrigation facility. With the increase in population, the quality and the quantity of irrigation water used for cultivaton is becoming a concern. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to improve water use efficiency for wheat production. In this background, the present investigation was taken to assess the impacts of seed priming on water productivity and performances of wheat. This experiment was conducted for two consecutive years 2017-18 and 2018-19 in factorial random block design (RBD) with three replications. The treatment comprised of five varieties C-306, PBW-343, HD-2967, K-1006, and DBW-39 with three methods of seed priming namely hydro priming, gibberellic acid (GA₃) priming, and control. Results of the experiment clearly showed that seed priming with GA₃ recorded significantly higher germination count (209 and 196 m^-2) in the case of variety PBW-343, which helps in better crop stand and more number of spike m^-2 (376.48 and 373.37) and grains spike^-1 (38.69 and 36.12) during 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively. Seed priming with GA₃ also registered the highest grain yield irrespective of the variety and the year of experimentation followed by hydro-priming. Among all the experimental varieties, PBW-343 recorded a significantly highest grain yield of 3.32 and 3.21 t ha^-1 during 2017-18 and 2018-19 which was followed by C-306, HD-2967, K-1006, and DBW-39. Seed priming with GA₃ also realized higher grain yield for every cubic meter water use.

Keywords: germination, seed priming, water productivity, wheat, yield

DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.31783/elsr.2020.623237