Rapid seed germination and early emergence are vital for high value vegetable crops like chilli. Pre sowing seed enhancement treatments improve field emergence, speed, early seedling growth and yield especially for various vigour lots under normal and adverse conditions. This study aimed to determine the optimal enhancement protocol for improving the performance of chilli seeds under field conditions. Chilli variety; Arka Lohit was given various seed enhancement treatments with different duration and concentration namely; hydro (24, 48 hr), halo (24, 36, 48 hr), osmo (36, 48 hr), matrix (24, 48 hr) and magneto (50, 100, 150mT) priming and assessed for seed quality. The results showed that hydropriming for 24 hr, halopriming with NaCl @ 2% for 24 hr, osmopriming with PEG 6000 @-1.5 MPa for 36 hr, solid matrix priming with vermiculite for 24 hr and magneto priming @ 50mT for 30 min were found best among the screened treatment combinations for increasing seed germination and vigour of chilli seeds. Subsequently, the optimized seed enhancement treatments were validated under suboptimum and optimum conditions for field emergence. The field emergence was low under suboptimum conditions, wherein maximum emergence was observed with magneto (48%) and solid matrix priming (43%), while under optimum conditions; solid matrix priming (56%) showed highest improvement over control in field emergence. Seed enhancement treatments had beneficial effect on achieving early and uniform emergence, as well as enhancing germination and seedling vigour in chilli seeds.

Seed priming, temperature, solid matrix priming, magneto priming, germination, vigour index

Seed enhancement treatments had beneficial effect on achieving early and uniform emergence, and enhancing germination and seedling vigour in chilli seeds. Among the various enhancement treatments evaluated, hydropriming for 24 hr, halopriming with 2% NaCl for 24 hr, osmopriming with -1.5 Mpa PEG 6000 for 36 hr, solid matrix priming with vermiculite for 24 hr and magneto priming at 50mT for 30min were found significant for enhancing germination and vigour in chilli seeds. Specifically, solid matrix priming and magneto priming had significant effect on field emergence both under suboptimum and optimum conditions.

Jayasri Sundarraj, Sudipta Basu, Sandeep Kumar Lal, Anjali Anand and Mohammed Athar (2023). Seed Enhancement Treatments for Improved Performance in Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(8): 42-46.