Vol. 12, Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
Khwairakpam Bedia Devi, Monisha Rawat and Taranpreet Kaur

Abstract:
Successful crop establishment in direct seeded vegetables such as carrot depends on the uniform seed germination and seedling emergence. However, the major constraints to successful crop production in carrot are poor seed germination and delayed crop establishment. To accelerate the germination and seedling emergence in carrot, a laboratory trial was conducted to study the effect of different priming agents on the seed quality of carrot. Seeds of two carrot cultivars i.e., Country Red and Black Wonder were primed with fourteen priming agents for 24 hours, whereas in control, priming was not done. The seeds were removed after priming and then dried at room temperature till their initial weight. Seed testing was performed to determine germination percentage; length of root, shoot and leaf; weight of fresh and dried seedling; seedling vigour index-I and seedling vigour index-II. It was observed that use of priming agents positively affected the seed quality of both the carrot cultivars as compared to control. Seed priming with cow urine and Panchagavya enhanced the carrot seed germination and seedling vigour therefore, 5% cow urine and 5% Panchagavya can be used for seed priming to improve the overall seed quality of carrot.