Agrotechnology

Impact of seed pre-treatments on vegetable crop productivity: A case report

7^th Global Summit on Agriculture & Horticulture

October 17-19, 2016 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Mohamed Fouad Mohamed Abdalla

Assiut University, Egypt

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Agrotechnol

Abstract:

Seed preparation is an initial practice in crop production and many useful seed pretreatments have been reported depending on the crop species and the purpose. The current study presents results obtained for hydro-priming treatments and germinating seed chilling or seed presoaking in salicylic acid solution utilized in different vegetable crops. In cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) cv El-Soultani, the greatest number of leaves/plant and the highest curd weight and total curd yield were produced by plants from seeds imbibed in water for 6 h and subjected to chilling at 4-5oC for 15 d. The increase in the total curd yield ranged from 74 to 77% relative to control treatment. The visible curd for this treatment was also earlier by 7 d. Second to this treatment was the seeds imbibed and subjected to chilling at 4-5oC for 10 d. The seeds imbibed for 6 h, air dried and stored for 10 d came in the third order. In cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), among the studied salicylic acid (SA) concentrations, 0.07mM and 0.18mM elevated both chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b contents, increased the number of female flowers per cucumber plant, the plant stem diameter and the leaf number per plant. Total fruit yield, in particular, was the highest (38.2% higher as compared to the control) using 0.18 mM SA. In pumpkin (Cucurbita spp. L), imbibed seed chilling at 4-5oC for 15 d induced flowering in recalcitrant cvs (qualitative effect) while it enhanced crop productivity in the ready to flower cvs (quantitative effect). It is concluded that considerable crop enhancement can be achieved by simple and environment friendly seed pre-sowing treatments at no substantial added production cost.

Biography :

Email: mofouad@yahoo.com