ON farm pre-sowing invigoration seed treatments in onion (Allium cepa L.)

Seed priming is proved to be an effective on farm seed enhancement technique to improve seedling establishment and plant performance. The effects of six different pre-sowing invigoration seed treatments on germination and seedling vigour in fresh and aged seed lots of onion cv. Agri found Dark Red were studied. Seed priming with GA3 @100ppm for 6 hrs showed significant effect on enhancing the germination behaviour seedling characteristics compared to control. The response of aged seeds to priming was more pronounced than the fresh seed lot, with an expression of 21% increased germination,13.34% improvement in speed of germination, with a decrease of 12.32 % in mean germination time resulting in 3.82% increased seedling vigour I and 69.74 % increased seedling vigour II compared to control. This indicates that the aged or low vigour seed could be benefited more than the fresh seed lot with the priming treatment.