Integrated management of seed health for prolonging seed storability in parental Lines of pearl millet (Pmnisemm glaueum)

Abstract

Maintenance of seed quality in vulnerable parental lines ('MS 841A', 'MS 841B' and 'D 23') of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucuni L. R. Br. emend. Stuntz) during storage was investigated during 2000-04 using integration of different treatments as storage containers (cloth bags, polylined cloth bags), storage environments (ambient, controlled) and seed dressings (carbendazim, captan, thiram, Trichoderma viride and Pseudonzonasfluoresceirs). Seeds of 'MS 841AY',M S 841B' and 'D 23' retained germination above the minimum seed certifi cation standards (75%) up to 16,16 and 20 months after seed harvest respectively. The germination of seeds stored under controlled conditions (82.25%) (temperature 20°C and relative humidity 40%) and in polylined bags (76.62%) was significantly higher than seeds stored under ambient condition (66.43%) and in cloth bags (72.05%). Treatment with bioagent T. viride maintained 78.30% germination comparable to thiram (78.34%), captan (78.16%) and carbendazim (77.37%) as against 74.27% in untreated control and 59.58% in P.fluorescens treatment. The incidence of seed mycoflora was 32.39,28.26 and 29.14% in seeds of 'MS 841A', 'MS 841B' and 'D 23' respectively. This was significantly higher in seeds stored under controlled conditions (35.3 1 %) and in cloth bags (3 I .21%) compared to seeds stored under ambient condition (24.55%) and in polylined cloth bags (28.66%) respectively. Among different seed dressings the incidence of contamination with seed mycoflora was 6.90, 1 1.65,34.07,39.46 and 47.28% in thiram, captan, T. viride, carbendazim and P. j7uorescerls treatments respectively compared to 40.24% in the untreated control. In all 14 fungi were found associated with pearl millet seeds of different genotypes. The seed moisture increased in different treatments with increase in the storage time.