Influence of Pre-sowing Seed Treatments with Botanical and Organics on Yield Attributing Traits and Seedling Parameters of Cluster Bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L) Variety: RGC1066

Abstract

The current global scenario firmly emphasizes the need to enhance eco-friendly agriculture practices for sustainable agriculture. Chemical agriculture has made an adverse impact of the health care of not only soil but also the beneficial soil microbial communities and the plants cultivated in these soil. This eventually has led to a high demand of botanical and organic produce by the present day health conscious society and periodic attempts are being made by farmers all over the world to depollute. Application of heavy doses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are being used by the farmers to get a better yield of various agricultural crops. These chemical fertilizers and pesticides decrease soil fertility and cause health problems to the consumers. The new approaches to the use of botanical and organic amendments in farming have proven to be effective means of improving soil structure, enhancing soil fertility and increasing crop yields. Botanical and organics play vital roles in increasing soil fertility and increasing yield. The study was designed to check the response of botanical and organics on yield and seedling quality parameters such as field emergence percent, plant height (30, 60, 90 DAS), days to 50% flowering, number branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of clusters per plant, days to maturity, seed yield per plant, seed yield per plot, harvest index, germination percentage, speed of germination, root length, shoot length, seedling length, seedling dry weight, seedling fresh weight, seedling growth rate, root: shoot ratio, seed metabolic efficiency, mobilization efficiency, vigour index-I, vigour index-II, electrical conductivity. For this experiment the seeds of RGC1066 variety collected from department of genetics and plant breeding, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj during 2021-2022, to find out the influence of pre-sowing seed treatments with botanical and organics, seeds treated with panchagavya, beejamruth, jeevamruth, neem leaf extract and vermiwash at different concentrations viz 2, 3, 5, and 10% for 12hours along with control (no treatment). It is found that all treatments showed improved performance than untreated seeds, but it was observed that seeds treated with panchagavya@10% for 12 hours performed better in comparison to other treatments. This study can be helpful to reach new horizons of research in the field of sustainable agriculture, natural resource conservation and seed technology to overcome the germination problem and improve crop growth and yield eventually.