Influence of Gamma Irradiation and Seed Treatment Chemicals on Seed Longevity of Bengal Gram (Cicer arietinum L.) and Black Gram (Vigna mungo L.)

Abstract

to study the influence of gamma irradiation and seed treatment chemicals on seed longevity of bengal gram (Cicer arietinum L.) and black gram (Vigna mungo L.). The experiment consisted of nine treatments with different dosage of gamma irradiation and seed treatment chemicals. Among the different treatments imposed, significantly higher seed germination (87.0 and 83.8 %), germination rate index (4684 and 3946), peak value of germination (23.5 and 20.0), seedling vigour index (2069 and 1755), dehydrogenase enzyme activity (1.816 and 1.576 OD value) and alpha amylase enzyme activity (23.5 and 18.8 mm) with lowest abnormal seedling (8.3 and 9.0 %) and mean germination time (2.10 and 2.34) were recorded even after nine months storage, respectively in bengal gram and black gram, respectively by treating the seeds with the combination of malathion + thiram each @ 2.0 g / kg of seed as compared to all other treatments and control. The above treatment was also effective in control of cent per cent insect eggs there by without any seed damage and consequently no weight loss compared to control with 23.00, 12.92 and 7.76 per cent insect egg, seed damage and weight loss, respectively in bengal gram. But in case of black gram the seed infestation did not take place in any of the treatments including control. Further, exposing the seeds to the gamma irradiation (T 2 to T 6 ) showed a significant reduction in all above seed quality parameters with an increase in gamma irradiation dosage. While, the seed quality parameters such as, abnormal seedlings, dead seeds, mean germination time and electrical conductivity increased with the increase in dosage of gamma irradiation. However, among all the gamma irradiation treatments imposed, the highest dosage of gamma irradiation (T6-100 Gy) recorded the least seed damage (1.46 %) and weight loss (0.02%) only.

Gamma Irradiation - A Tool for Enhancing Storage Life of Grain Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.)

“…Gamma irradiation proves to be an alternative for pulse beetle control and these results were confirmed with the investigations carried out by Dongre et al The least seedling root length (7.23 cm) was recorded in T 5 (500 Gy). Similar findings were reported by Pranesh et al [15] in which a reduction in shoot length (5.1 and 5.9 cm) was observed at higher doses (1000 Gy) of gamma rays in Bengal gram and black gram at nine months of storage. The impact of gamma rays on germination parameters is given in Table 2.…”