Effect of Seed Priming and Coating through Micronutrient Application on Growth and Seed Yield of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a major oilseed crop which ranks 3rd among the oilseed crops of the world. It is one of the chief vegetable oil sources in the world. The kernel of groundnut contains 46-52 per cent oil, 18 per cent carbohydrates and 25-30 per cent crude protein. Micronutrients are vital for plant growth and human health. Soil and foliar applications are the most prevalent methods of micronutrient addition. However, the cost involved and difficulty in obtaining high quality micronutrient fertilizers are major concerns with these in developing countries. Micronutrient seed treatments, which include seed priming and seed coating, are an attractive and easy alternative. So, the aim was to provide micronutrient fortified seed to the farmers for better yield advantage. A field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2018-19 and 2019-20 at the experimental farm, OUAT, Bhubaneswar to study the effect of seed priming and coating through micronutrient application on growth and seed yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) with 21 different treatment combinations, laid out in Randomised Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Parameters measured were plant height, number of branches per plant, number of nodules per plant, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and seed yield. The experimental findings revealed that the treatment (T17) seed priming with 0.5 g/l borax solution + 0.5 g/l sodium molybdate solution performed significantly (0.05 or 5% level) higher than other treatment i.e., plant height of 11.61 cm, 29.73 cm and 39.91 cm at 30, 60 and 90 DAS, numbers of branches per plant, i.e., 5.84, 7.41 and 9.10, number of nodules per plant 44.66, 57.76, and 29.88 at 45 DAS, 60 DAS and harvest time, least number of days to reach 50% flowering (25.57 days), least number of days to reach maturity i.e., 111.45 days and higher seed yield per hectare, i.e., 1565.70 kg ha-1. Molybdenum treatments recorded higher plant growth parameters as compared to boron application, whereas, boron application comparatively recorded higher yield attributing parameters and seed yield over molybdenum application. In general, seed priming treatments either with borax or sodium molybdate proved to be more effective than the seed coating treatments.