Quality Parameters of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) Seeds and Seedlings under Various Storage Duration and Seed Invigoration

Abstract

In eastern part of India especially in West Bengal, high humidity and temperature often act as barriers in maintenance of vigour and viability of seeds during storage. With the objective to maintain and improve seed and seedling quality of sunflower through a simple and cheap method, the present experiment was carried out at laboratory of Department of Seed Science and Technology, Institute of Agricultural Science, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India in 2015. The experiment comprised two factors each having 4 levels viz. seed storage duration (D1: No storage after harvest, D2,D3, D4:Storage for 3, 6 and 9 months after harvest respectively) and invigoration powdered ingredients (T1:Red chilli powder @ 1g/kg of seed, T2:Bleaching powder @ 2 g/kg of seed and T3: Finely powdered aspirin @ 50 mg/kg of seed,T4: Control or dry seeds). Results revealed that freshly harvested seeds (D1) treated with red chilli fruit powder (T1)exhibited highest germination (94.40%), root length (12.38 cm),shoot length (4.954 cm), fresh (1.802 g) and dry (0.177 g) weights of seedlings, vigour index (1636.05) and lowest electrical conductivity (0.029 ds m-1) which was closely followed by fresh sunflower seeds treated with bleaching powder (D1T2).Among different storage durations, seeds stored for 3 months comparatively performed better with various invigoration treatments. No invigoration along with increment of storage duration resulted in poor quality of sunflower seeds and seedlings. Therefore, invigoration of freshly harvested seeds with either red chilli or bleaching powder can be recommended for maintenance and improvement of seed and seedling quality parameters of sunflower.