Enhancement of seed quality of chilli by seed invigoration treatments.

HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE SUMMARY Loss of seed vigour and viability was said to be associated with the ageing phenomenon and results in poor stand and performance in the field, but many researchers advocated seed invigoration in promoting vigour, viability, storability and performance. Chilli cv. Byadgi seeds with initial germination of 76 per cent were invigorated with different chemicals. Significant improvement in germination, root length, shoot length, seedling dry weight, vigour index, speed of emergence and germination after accelerated gaining, was observed in invigorated seeds over the control seeds. Germination was enhanced to 88 per cent in KNO 3 (1%), hydration-dehydration alone enhances the germination from 76 to 83 per cent and field emergence from 72 to 78 per cent. The study suggests that KNO 3 (1%) could improve rapid and uniform seedling emergence.