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Asian Journal of Plant Sciences

Year: 2002 | Volume: 1 | Issue: 3 | Page No.: 277-278
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ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted to investigate effect of micronutrients (ZnSO4, MnSO4 and FeSO4) as pre-sowing seed treatment of Peela Raya (Brassica carianata L.). Seed treatments comprised of control (un-soaked), 12 hours soaking of seed in distilled water and in solutions of 0.5 M FeSO4, 0.5 M MnSO4 and 0.5 M ZnSO4. The soaked seed was then dried under the shade for 12 hours before sowing. The results showed that yield parameters such as number of primary branches per plant, plant height at maturity, days to 50% flowering, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod were affected to a considerable extent. Seeds treated with ZnSO4 gave the highest values of yield parameters.
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Introduction

Micronutrients have vital role for the production of agricultural crops. Copper deficiency in wheat crop causes low grain formation; Zinc deficiency in rice crop is very obvious. Availability of micronutrients to crops is essential for obtaining maximum yield. Micronutrients are applied in the form of broadcast, foliar spray and pre-sowing seed treatment. Pre-sowing seed treatment of micronutrients is good technique to decrease expenditure and get more income. Roberts and Winifred (1948) described a method for economizing the use of fertilizer by soaking the cereal seeds in nutrient solution prior to sowing. They stated that sufficient quantities of deficient elements could be introduced in this way to carry the plant growth through the critical stages of early growth and to produce the significant increase in yield parameters. Smalik (1959) noted that seed soaking with trace elements was more effective than soil treatment. Igue and Gallo (1960) in their field experiments observed that the chlorotic symptoms could be dispersed or prevented by spraying 0.5 % ZnSO4, band spraying of 5 kg ZnSO4 ha-1. Similarly, Farah et al. (1980), Khan (1981) and Pakroo and Kashirad (1981) found ZnSO4 treatment superior over other micronutrients. Fenster et al. (1984) suggested that a maximum of 0.22 kg Zn ha-1 could be banded indirect contact with seed while Mikkelson and Brandon (1975) indicated that coating 1 kg of seed with 20 g of Zn from either ZnSO4 or ZnO satisfactorily corrected Zn deficiency in rice. Whereas Vitosh et al. (1981) found that bean seed treatment with 1.1 kg Zn ha-1 as ZnO reduced emergence and yields in many locations. Kuznestov and Openlender (1971) conducted their research using serosem-meadow soil. They steeped the maize seeds in solutions of MnSO4, ZnSO4 and found that number of grains per cob increased from 8.18 to 8.30 and 8.58 to 8.80 tons ha-1 by MnSO4 and ZnSO4 respectively. The present study was conducted with the objective to explore the effect of micronutrients seed treatments on growth parameters of peela raya.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The experiment was conducted in 1998 at Soil Salinity Research Institute, Pindi Bhattian in a normal sandy loam soil to evaluate the effect of micronutrients as pre-sowing seed treatments on yield parameters of peela raya (Brassica carianata L.). Seed treatments were control (un-soaked seed), soaking of seed for 12 hours in distilled water, solutions of FeSO4 (0.5 M), MnSO4 (0.5 M) and ZnSO4 (0.5 M). The soaked seeds were then dried under shade for 12 hours before sowing. The system of layout was randomized complete block design with three replications and having plot size of 7 X 2.40 m2. Yield parameters i.e. No. of primary branches/plant, No. of secondary branches/plant, plant height at maturity (m), No. of days for 50% flowering, percentage mature seeds, plant population at harvest, No. of pods/plant and 1000-grain weight were recorded during the course of study. All the data recorded were statistically analyzed by Fisher’s method of analysis of variance (Fisher, 1958). Duncan’s multiple range test was used to see the significance of the treatments (Leclerge et al., 1962).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The data pertaining to number of primary branches per plant (Table 1) were found statistically significant and the effect of ZnSO4 resulted in producing 11.60 number of primary branches per plant that were the maximum of other treatments. It was followed by MnSO4, which produced an average of 10.43. Water soaking seed treatment though produced 9.77 number of primary branches per plant yet it was better than control. Control (un-soaked) occupied the bottom position by producing an average of 9.60 primary branches per plant.

Number of secondary branches per plant (Table 1) was statistically non-significant. All the micronutrients seed treatments (FeSO4, ZnSO4 and MnSO4) increased the number of secondary branches as compared to control. The highest average numbers of secondary branches per plant (23.07) were observed in case of ZnSO4, which was followed by water (22.93) MnSO4 (21.83) and FeSO4 (21.37).

Final plant height was significantly affected by seed treatments (Table 1). On an average ZnSO4 occupied the top position by producing plant height of 2.96 m. Control (un-soaked) retained the bottom position showing an average plant height 2.32 m. Tallest plants produced by ZnSO4 treatment indicate that momentum gained at emergence stage was maintained by this treatment. These results are supported by the findings of Bottini (1964), Djendov (1969), Martens et al. (1973), Trifu (1974), Dranichnikova (1977), Farah et al. (1980), Khan (1981) and Pakroo and Kashirad (1981). The seed treatment at time of flowering plays an important role in proper seed setting and ultimately seed yield production (Table 1). Zinc sulphate (ZnSO4) completed 50 % of flowering in 52.67 days, which was earlier than other treatments. Water soaking treatment completed flowering in 57.00 days, which was shorts period over control. The shortest period of 50% flowering was obtained from ZnSO4 treatment (52.67) days. The results of this variable was statistically significant. These results are not in accordance with the findings of Ignaeva (1969) that may be due to different crops.

As regards percentage of mature seeds, all the treatment remained non significant statistically.

Table 1: Effect of seed treatments on various growth parameters
Image for - Effect of Pre-sowing Seed Treatment of Raya With Micronutrients on Yield Parameters
Any two means not sharing a common letter differ significantly at five per probability level. NS = Non significant

Seed treated with ZnSO4 topped the list by producing the highest seed maturity (91.27 %) followed by MnSO4 and FeSO4 producing seed maturity percentage 88.23 and 88.40 respectively. The lowest position was gained by control (un-soaked) and gave 85.40 percent seed maturity. As regards No. of pods/plant, ZnSO4 treatment produced the highest number of 804.73 pods per plant. It was followed by MnSO4, which produced 720.00 numbers of pods per plant. Control treatment occupied the bottom position by producing 555.09 pods per plant. These results are in accordance with those of reported by Kene (1976) and Samui et al. (1980).

As regards 1000-grain wt. maximum weight was obtained by ZnSO4 (4.80 g) treatment, which was followed by MnSO4 (4.70 g). The 1000-grain weight of water soaked and FeSO4 treatment was at par (4.63 g). Control occupied the bottom position in 1000-grain weight. Samui et al. (1980) reported that Zn increased 1000-grain weight of mustard. These results are in conformity with those of Ignaeva (1969), Kene (1976) and Farah et al. (1980). All the seed treatments i.e. soaking in water, MnSO4 and ZnSO4 proved beneficial except FeSO4 treatment. FeSO4 treatment showed bad results due to toxic effect on different parameters. Overall the effect of seed treatments with micronutrients on yield parameters is highly beneficial. Therefore pre-soaking seed treatment with micronutrients on Peela Raya may be applied to grow more yield parameters and reduce soil pollution due to effects of salts.

REFERENCES

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