Storage Potentiation of Seeds under Ambient Agro-Climatic Condition

Abstract

Availability of an adequate supply of crop seeds of uniform high quality is essential for a successful seed industry and maintenance of viable and productive agriculture. Deterioration of seed quality of plant cultivars and germplasm is recognized as a major problem contributing to increased cost of production. Unfortunately, storing of seeds is a serious problem in tropical and subtropical countries where high temperature and high relative humidity (RH) greatly accelerate seed ageing phenomenon causing consequent deterioration and non-viability of seeds(Basu,1994;Pati and Bhattacharjee,2013;Pati et al.,2018). The problem of retention of seed vigor in many states of India is much more acute because of its semiarid climate where high relative humidity prevailing during the major part of a year is very conducive to the growth of microorganisms, particularly fungi. The changes of these two environmental factors strongly impair seed and seedling health and cause to reduce percent seed germinability and seedling performance at a rapid rate (Sakai et al., 2000; Reed, 2001; Hao et al.,2001; Pati,2019).