Abstract:

Seed invigoration also known as priming is an efficient tool to improve the emergence and stand establishment of field crops like maze, millet and wheat etc. Current study was conducted at Soil and Water Conservation Research Station, Sohawa during the years 2015-2019 to evaluate the impact of seed priming of wheat with various phosphorus fertilizer sources. Effect of seed invigoration through phosphatic fertilizers on the seedling vigour and germination of wheat (Pakistan-2013) were tested under laboratory conditions as well as in field. In hydro-priming the seeds were dipped in water, and in nutrient priming, solutions of KH2PO4, DAP and SSP were used keeping 1% P constant in all treatments. There were five treatments and three repeats under both lab and field conditions. All the priming treatments except SSP significantly enhanced the germination percentage, seedling vigour index (SVI), shoot and root length, seedling dry weight compared to control. The germination percentage (91), seedling vigour index (SVI) (19.08), shoot (20.2 cm) and root length (12.5 cm) were  maximum with KH2PO4 seed priming as compared to control. Under field experiments on wheat extending over the period from 2015-2019, both grain yield (4977 kg ha-1 in 2019) and biomass yield of wheat (12194 kg ha-1 in 2019) were at the maximum with KH2PO4 followed by DAP and hydro priming. Conclusively, it is ascertained that application of P seed priming technique using different sources improved the seedling vigour and germination leading to enhanced wheat yield under field conditions.

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