Effect of Seed Hardening and Pelleting on Germination and Seedling Attributes of Cowpea under Saline Condition

Abstract

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an important legume crop. Investigations were undertaken to study the effect of seed hardening, seed pelleting and combined effect of seed hardening with seed pelleting on germination and seedling growth of cowpea under induced saline condition viz., EC4, EC8, EC12 and EC16. Cowpea seeds were hardened with KCl @ 1%, CaCl2 @ 1% and both KCl and CaCl2 @ 1% and hardened seeds were further pelleted with pungam leaf powder @ 100, 150 and 200 g kg-1 of seed. Observations on germination % and seedling parameters were recorded. The experimental results revealed that increased salinity reduced germination and seedling growth in terms of germination %, speed of germination, root length, shoot length, dry matter production and vigour index. However, hardening and pelleting treatments significantly increased all these parameters at all the levels of salinity when compared to control. Among the treatments, seeds hardened with KCl @ 1 % + CaCl2 @ 1 % and pelleted with pungam leaf powder @ 200 g per kg recorded higher germination % and all the seedling parameters when compared to control and other treatments.