Abstract
Background: Blackgrm is one of the most important pulse crops majorly cultivated in rainfed conditions of India. Soil moisture deficit,low and erratic rainfall, use of poor quality seeds,poor crop stand and improper crop managementresulting in lower productivity in rainfed ecosuystem . Reduced crop stand alone leads to 30% deficit in production combined.Availability of technology to overcome drought stress is one of the way to expand blackgram cultivation in dry tracks. Hydrophilic polymers may have great potential in restoration and reclamation, when used the polymers correctly and an ideal situations will have atleast 95 % of their stores water available for plant absorption. There are N number of inorganic polymers available in the market, that can be applied in the farm of soil application. Studies on Hydrophilic bio polymer seed coating to mitigate water stress is very megar or nil. Hence, the present study was formulated in blackgram as hydrophilic bio polymer seed coating on seed germination and field emergence. Method: Seed coating experiment consists of seven hydrophilic biopolymers (Ethyl cellulose, Methyl cellulose, Carboxyl methyl cellulose, Agar, Gum Arabic, Xanthangum and Carrageenan); two coating methods (dry and dry powder concoction). The germination test conducted in sand media with 60 % Water Holding Capacity of sand and PEG induced water stress and evaluated for seed quality parameters against uncoated seeds. Field experiments conducted with water stress periods of 10 days, 20 days and 25 days after life irrigation and observed for biometric and yield parameters. Results: Results revealed that blackgram seeds coated with bio polymer concoction of xanthan gum : carrageenan : agar agar (4:1:1) @ 20 g / kg performed better in terms of all seed quality parameters and withstand water stress upto 20 days after life irrigation with the yield increase of 53% over stressed control (skipping irrigation for 20 days after life irrigation) and can be recommended as a pre sowing treatment for drought mitigation in blackgram.
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