Effect of Nutripriming with Boric Acid, Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate and its Combination on Germination Physiology of Lentil (Lens culinaris L.) cv. HUL 57

Abstract

Background: In rainfed agriculture, lentil is considered an important legume crop. But in rainfed conditions adequate soil moisture condition is a major obstacle that leads to reduced germination per cent, slow down growth of the seedlings and finally reduction in yield. Seed priming is an alternative which can improve the germination percentage and seedling establishment of lentil. Methods: The present work, deals with the lentil (Lens culinaris L.) cv. HUL 57 where seeds were primed with different concentrations/combinations of boric acid (H3BO3) and zinc sulphate heptahydrate (ZnSO4.7H2O). The parameters taken into consideration was germination percentage (ranging from 18 to 96 h), radicle and plumule length, fresh and dry weights of radicle and plumule at different time intervals (ranging from 48 to 96 h) during both the consecutive years i.e., 2014-15 and 2015-16. Result: Among all the priming treatments, priming with 4 mM boric acid (B2), 2 mM zinc sulphate heptahydrate (Zn1) and 2 mM of zinc sulphate + 4 mM of boric acid (T1) significantly improved the germination percentage, plumule and radicle lengths, fresh and dry weights of lentil seedlings over other treatments in both the consecutive years.