Effect of seed Treatments and Containers on storability of Grain amaranthus (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) CV. Suvarna 
Manikandan S.1 
,
Srimathi P.1 
,
Srimathi P.1
1. Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
2. Seed Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
Author Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 7 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2015.05.0007
Received: 24 Mar., 2015 Accepted: 25 May, 2015 Published: 03 Jun., 2015
Author Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 7 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2015.05.0007
Received: 24 Mar., 2015 Accepted: 25 May, 2015 Published: 03 Jun., 2015
© 2015 BioPublisher Publishing Platform
This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Manikandan and Srimathi, 2015, Effect of seed Treatments and Containers on storability of Grain amaranthus (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) CV. Suvarna, International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol.5, No.7 1-5 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2015.05.0007)
Abstract
The laboratory experiment was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India to elucidate the influence of pre-storage seed treatments and containers on storability of seeds of grain amaranthus (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.) Cv. Suvarna. The study revealed that, among the treatments, seeds treated with Carbendazim and Imidacloprid at 2 g kg–1 seed and 100 mg kg–1 seed, respectively and stored in poly laminated aluminum foil pouch maintained maximum germination of 97 percent after six months of seed storage. The seed quality characters in terms of physiological and biochemical parameters decreased with ageing irrespective of containers and seed treatments of grain amaranthus.
Keywords
Grain amaranthus; Seed storage; Pre-storage treatments; Containers, Periods; Quality characters
Grain amaranth native of Central America, (Stallknecht and Schulz-Schaeffer, 1993) belongs to the family of Amaranthaceae. Pale-seeded, highly nutritive grain amaranth is rich in lysine (5%) and sulphur aminoacid (4.4%) which are the limiting amino acids in plant kingdom but required for balanced human diet (Sounders and Becker, 1983). It is termed as “Poor man's spinach" and is recommended for combating malnutrition of the population in many parts of the world. Hence, it is considered as an alternative to cereal and this leafy vegetable propagated only through seeds. Good quality seed play a vital role in successful seed or crop production as the end product depends on the quality of seed used for sowing. Grain amaranthus is one of the most sensitive seeds susceptible to significant deterioration after year’s storage. Seeds are required to be kept in safe storage since they are harvested in the preceding season and usually used for sowing in the subsequent season often after a time gap of six months or longer. During the aging process, seeds lose their vigor, ability to germinate and ultimately become less viable (Maity, Roy, M. Pal, C. Pal, Chakrabarti and Bhattacharjee. 2000). Losses in seed quality occur during field weathering, harvesting and storage. Several intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the viability of seeds during storage. Among intrinsic and extrinsic factors, seed moisture content, relative humidity, temperature of storage, pests and diseases and oxygen availability are more important. Polyethylene and aluminum foil materials were effective in preventing moisture uptake and maintaining seed viability, while paper and cloth containers were least effective (Wilson and McDonald, 1992). Seed deterioration is an inexorable and an irreversible process. One of symptom of seed deterioration is membrane deterioration (Copeland and McDonald, 1995). Carbendazim is a systemic fungicide comes under the group of carbamate which inhibits mitosis and DNA synthesis of microbes and thereby extend the shelf life of seed while Imidacloprid is an chlorinated analog of nicotine, the compound therefore belongs to the class of chloronicotinyl insecticides, and acts on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor; the chlorination inhibits degradation by acetylcholine-esterase (Nene nad Thapliyal, 1971). Imidacloprid is notable for its relatively low toxicity to most animals other than insects due to its specificity for this type of receptor, which is found more often in insect nervous systems. This potentially allows for lower concentrations (e.g. 0.05 – 0.125 lb/acre or 55 – 140 g/ha) to be used for insect control (EXTOXNET- Extension Toxicology Network). Since research in grain amaranthus seed storage with seed treatments is scanty, the present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of seed treatments and containers on storability of grain amaranthus.
1 Materials and Methods
In a laboratory experiment the bulk seeds of amaranth cv. Suvarna were given with the following seed treatment and were packed in different storage containers as below after the initial quality evaluations.
1.1 Treatments details
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Seed treatments
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Storage Containers
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· Control (untreated)
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· Cloth bag
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· Carbendazim @ 2 g kg-1
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· HDPE bag
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· Imidacloprid @100 mg kg-1
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· Aluminium foil pouches
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· Carbendazim + Imidacloprid @ 2 g kg-1 + 100 mg kg-1
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Then the seed samples were drawn at tri monthly intervals in each treatment with 3 replications and evaluated for the following seed and seedling characters up to six months to evaluate the storability of seeds under ambient room condition (25 ± 3°C).
1.2 Seed and seedling quality evaluation
Seed samples were drawn in each treatment with 3 replications and evaluated for the following seed and seedling characters such as moisture content, seed germination, seedling length and drymatter production were observed as per ISTA (1999). The seeds size graded with sieves were also evaluated for protein content as per (Alikhan and Youngs, 1973) and vigour index values were computed as per Abdul baki and Anderson (1973) adopting the following formula as it is the totality of seed quality characters. Vigour index = Germination (%) x Total seedling length (cm) and Electrical conductivity dSm-1was measured in a digital conductivity meter with a cell constant of one and expressed as dSm-1 (Preseley, 1958).
1.3 Statistical analysis
The data recorded was subjected to factorial complete randomized design as per standard procedures as described by Gomez and Gomez (1984).
2 Results and Discussion
The storage of seeds assumes paramount importance in a seed production programme. Storability of seeds is determined by wide number of factors viz., period of storage, initial seed quality, storage environment, seeds moisture content and seed treatment (Basu and Rudrapal, 1980). Among these, pre storage seed treatments and packaging materials had their pronounced impact on the storability in view of their protection rendered against the biotic factors and irreversible deterioration (Burris 2002). In pre storage seed treatment, pesticide and ecofriendly products are fetching importance on extended utility as seed.
Hence the present study evaluated on the influence of seed treatments and containers on physiological and biochemical seed quality parameters of grain amaranthus. The moisture content of the seeds plays a prime role in determination of storability of any seed and it increased with advances in storage period (Copeland and Mcdonald, 1995). But in the present study a non significant difference was noticed between containers, treatments and durations of storage which might be due to the shorter period of storage, 6 months (Table 1). The superiority of poly laminated aluminium foil pouches in maintaining higher germination (94 per cent) followed in storage was due to its moisture vapour proof nature which besides offering protection against invasion of pathogen and insects.
The maintenance of higher germination (94 per cent) of seeds treated with Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1 seed, + 100 mg kg –1 seed and stored in aluminium foil pouches might be due to stabilization of unsaturated fatty acid. Among the treatments, Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1 seed, + 100 mg kg –1 seed treatment were superior to other treatments in controlling the deterioration process and maintaining the germination (Table 2). This is in accordance with the reports of Chakravarthy (2004) in palak seeds. The vigour potential in terms of seedling growth, dry matter production and vigour index values determined were relatively higher in seedlings derived from the seeds treated with Carbendazim+ Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1 seed + 100 mg kg –1 seed and stored in aluminum foil pouches than those form the seeds stored in cloth bags of the present study (Table 3). The lower value for the vigour parameters of the seeds in cloth bag might be due to increase moisture content of the seeds and increased rate of deteriorative process occurring with the senescence of seeds due to ageing in storage (Figure 1). Similar results were reported by Menaka (2000) in amaranthus seeds that were treated with halogen mixture @ 1.5 g-1 kg of seeds and packed in aluminium foil pouches, could be stored safely for more than 6 months with minimum loss of viability and vigour.
Seed deterioration alters the semi-permeability properties of the membrane and membrane integrity (Berjack and Villiers, 1972). Electrical conductivity of seed leachate increased gradually over periods of storage (0.075 dSm-1 to 0.139 dSm-1) irrespective of seed treatments and containers (Table 4). The probable reason for increase in the electrical conductivity might be due to loss of membrane integrity (Copeland, 1988). The increase in conductivity of electrolites was slow in Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid treatment that were stored in aluminium foil pouches while it was higher in the seeds of cloth bag. The Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1seed, + 100 mg kg –1 seed formulations had antibacterial and antifungal properties besides stabilizing the week carbon bonds of unsaturated fatty acids and helped in the integrity of cell membrane. This was clearly exhibited by the lowest electrical conductivity (0.075 dSm-1) recorded by Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid treated seeds. This was in accordance with the earlier reports of Ramya (2003) reported the superiority of aluminium foil pouch containers in storage of tomato seeds. Ramesh and Ukey (2006) observed that tomato seed treated with Imidacloprid @ 5, 7.5 and 10 g kg-1 seed helped to control the white fly and also increased the seed germination and survival of seedling. With increased storage period, the germination, vigour and protein content decreased (Table 5) while the electrical conductivity increased irrespective of treatments and storage containers. This may be probably due to increase moisture content of the seeds (Mukherjee, 2001) depletion of food reserves (Kovalenko, Badev and Falik, 1977), changes in protein structure (Abdul-Baki and Anderson, 1973), loss in membrane integrity and increased incidence of storage fungi.
3 Conclusion
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The maintenance of higher germination (94 per cent) of seeds treated with Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1 seed, + 100 mg kg –1 seed and stored in aluminium foil pouches might be due to stabilization of unsaturated fatty acid. Among the treatments, Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1 seed, + 100 mg kg –1 seed treatment were superior to other treatments in controlling the deterioration process and maintaining the germination (Table 2). This is in accordance with the reports of Chakravarthy (2004) in palak seeds. The vigour potential in terms of seedling growth, dry matter production and vigour index values determined were relatively higher in seedlings derived from the seeds treated with Carbendazim+ Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1 seed + 100 mg kg –1 seed and stored in aluminum foil pouches than those form the seeds stored in cloth bags of the present study (Table 3). The lower value for the vigour parameters of the seeds in cloth bag might be due to increase moisture content of the seeds and increased rate of deteriorative process occurring with the senescence of seeds due to ageing in storage (Figure 1). Similar results were reported by Menaka (2000) in amaranthus seeds that were treated with halogen mixture @ 1.5 g-1 kg of seeds and packed in aluminium foil pouches, could be stored safely for more than 6 months with minimum loss of viability and vigour.
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Seed deterioration alters the semi-permeability properties of the membrane and membrane integrity (Berjack and Villiers, 1972). Electrical conductivity of seed leachate increased gradually over periods of storage (0.075 dSm-1 to 0.139 dSm-1) irrespective of seed treatments and containers (Table 4). The probable reason for increase in the electrical conductivity might be due to loss of membrane integrity (Copeland, 1988). The increase in conductivity of electrolites was slow in Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid treatment that were stored in aluminium foil pouches while it was higher in the seeds of cloth bag. The Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid @ 2 g kg –1seed, + 100 mg kg –1 seed formulations had antibacterial and antifungal properties besides stabilizing the week carbon bonds of unsaturated fatty acids and helped in the integrity of cell membrane. This was clearly exhibited by the lowest electrical conductivity (0.075 dSm-1) recorded by Carbendazim + Imidochlorprid treated seeds. This was in accordance with the earlier reports of Ramya (2003) reported the superiority of aluminium foil pouch containers in storage of tomato seeds. Ramesh and Ukey (2006) observed that tomato seed treated with Imidacloprid @ 5, 7.5 and 10 g kg-1 seed helped to control the white fly and also increased the seed germination and survival of seedling. With increased storage period, the germination, vigour and protein content decreased (Table 5) while the electrical conductivity increased irrespective of treatments and storage containers. This may be probably due to increase moisture content of the seeds (Mukherjee, 2001) depletion of food reserves (Kovalenko, Badev and Falik, 1977), changes in protein structure (Abdul-Baki and Anderson, 1973), loss in membrane integrity and increased incidence of storage fungi.
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3 Conclusion
The result concluded that grain amaranthus seeds treated with Carbendazim and Imidochlorprid at 2 g kg-1 seed and 100 mg kg-1seed, respectively and stored in poly lined aluminum foil pouch kept at ambient room conditions maintained higher germination (97%) after six months of seed storage.
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Alikhan, S.T. and C.G. Youngs. 1973. Variation in protein content of field peas. J.Pl.Sci., 53: 37-41
Basu, R.N. and A.B. Rudrapal. 1980. Iodination of mustard seed for the maintenance of vigour and viability. Indian J. Exp. Biol., 18: 491-494
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. Online fPDF
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. Srimathi P.
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. Seed storage
. Pre-storage treatments
. Containers, Periods
. Quality characters
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