Vol. 10, Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
KP Arun, K Sujatha, P Geetharani, PR Renganayaki and S Sundareswaran

Abstract:
Moringa oleifera is a woody tree belongs to moringaceae family and popularly known as drum stick in India and it is considered as important nutritive vegetable in southern parts of Indian and also has high medicinal value. It is mainly propagated through seeds. Seed is the basic agricultural input and its quality is important. If the quality of the seed is poor at the time of sowing, then expenditure of the farmers on the other inputs may become ineffective. It is therefore imperative to have certainty about the quality and viability of the seed before commencing sowing and planting work. Testing the seed viability is therefore required to estimate the number of viable seeds in a seed lot. There is no standard protocol for viability testing and test weight for moringa. Hence, a study were undertaken in Moringa var. PKM 1 to determine the quick test of seed viability and test weight. To conduct Tetrazolium test, removal of perisperm of the seed kernel after soaking in water for 12 h and later soaking in 3, 6, 12 and 24 h in 0.5 and 1.00% concentrations and incubated at 40 ^OC temperature. The results revealed that 1% concentration for 12 h soaking showed better staining pattern to distinguish viable and non viable seeds. For the test weight, the optimum test weight (100 seeds) was 30 g.