EFFICACY OF BOTANICALS IN IMPROVING THE SEEDS AND SEEDLING QUALITY CHARACTRISTICS OF CLUSTER BEAN

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1 Legume Res., 31 (3) : , 2008 EFFICACY OF BOTANICALS IN IMPROVING THE SEEDS AND SEEDLING QUALITY CHARACTRISTICS OF CLUSTER BEAN J. Renugadevi, N. Natarajan and P. Srimathi Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,Coimbatore , India ABSTRACT Studies on botanical seed fortification treatments with prosopis (Prosopis juliflora), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), moringa (Moringa olifera), Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdarifa), pungam (Pongamia pinnata) and arappu (Albizia amara) in two different concentrations (1and 2%) and two durations of soaking (3h and 6h) expressed that fortification with prosopis, pungam and arappu at one and two per cent concentrations were superior than the control in terms of germination, vigour and field emergence. The optimum duration for seed fortification was 3h. Seed fortification with tamarind, moringa and hibiscus were not effective for germination enhancement in cluster bean. INTRODUCTION Organic agriculture is eco friendly production system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and biological activities. To enter into the era of Organic Agriculture, timely research has been warranted to study the strategies and efficacies of organic seed production to fulfill the global organic seed demand. According to Peerenboom (2004), for a product to be called and labeled organic it should have been produced from start (seed) until end (the producer, the consumer is buying) in an organic way. To grow and market a product with an organic label, one should use organically produced seed. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) has clearly laid down the condition that in order to get organic certification to the producer, the seed used for sowing should also have been produced organically (Anonymous, 2002). In this view, it is necessary to carryout the seed treatment methods also in organic way for enhancing the seed quality. For improving the physiological quality of cluster bean the seed treatment methods were tried with botanicals. Cluster bean is an indigenous legume, botanically called Cyamopsis tetragonoloba and popularly known as guar. It is drought hardy, deep-rooted, summer annual legume, grown as feed, fodder, green manure, vegetable and seed. The seed meal of Cluster bean, a byproduct of guar gum industries consisting of seed coat and germ cell material, is a good source of protein with 40-42% crude protein. Cluster bean gum acts as a binder, thickener or stabilizer in food and other industrial products. It is also highly valued in other industries like, textile, paper, mining, oil well drilling, explosive and tobacco. The versatile use of cluster bean provides unique opportunities to the growers, consumers, industrialists, and environmentalists and also in employment generation. To produce organic seed in cluster bean, various seed management practices were tried; one such management was pre-sowing seed treatments through botanical fortification. Seed fortification is a process of soaking the seeds in bioactive chemicals especially growth regulators, organic acids and nutrients to invigourate the seeds which were expressed through increase in germinability and vigour and ultimate establishment and yield. The effectiveness of treatment can further be enhanced by the use of botanicals, viz., the leaf extracts of Albizia amara, Prosopis juliflora, Pongamia pinnata, Cynadon dactylon, Calotropis gigantia and Tamarindus indica in different crops (Vadivelu et al., 2001). The stimulating effects due to these fortification treatments are related to increased conversion of reserve nutritional material, into mobile

2 Vol. 31, No. 3, Table 1. Influence of pre-sowing seed fortification with botanicals on seed and seedling quality characteristics of clusterbean Treatments (T) Germination (%) Root length (cm) Shoot length (cm) Drymatter production 10 seedling -1 (mg) Soaking Durations in hour (D) 3 6 M 3 6 M 3 6 M 3 6 M Control 82 (64.90) 82 (64.90) 82 (64.90) Prosopis 1% 91 (72.54) 84 (66.42) 88 (69.73) % 92 (73.57) 78 (62.03) 85 (67.21) Tamarind 1% 73 (58.69) 66 (54.33) 70 (56.79) % 72 (58.05) 64 (53.13) 68 (55.55) Moringa 1% 73 (58.69) 66 (54.33) 70 (56.79) % 69 (56.17) 64 (53.13) 67 (54.94) Hibiscus 1% 76 (60.67) 66 (54.33) 71 (57.42) % 73 (58.69) 60 (50.77) 67 (54.94) Pungam 1% 90 (71.57) 84 (66.42) 87 (68.87) % 92 (73.57) 78 (62.03) 85 (67.21) Arappu 1% 94 (75.82) 89 (70.63) 92 (73.57) % 95 (77.08) 82 (64.09) 89 (70.63) Mean 83 (65.65) 74 (59.34) 78 (62.03) T D T x D T D T x D T D T x D T D T x D SEd CD (P=0.05) NS NS NS (Figures in parentheses indicate arc sine values) Countd...

3 166 LEGUME RESEARCH Table 1. Contd Treatments (T) Vigour index Speed of germination Field emergence (%) Soaking Durations in hour (D) 3 6 M 3 6 M 3 6 M Control (67.21) 85 (67.21) 85 (67.21) Prosopis 1% (74.66) 90 (71.57) 92 (73.57) 2% (74.66) 90 (71.57) 92 (73.57) Tamarind 1% (69.73) 80 (63.43) 84 (66.42) 2% (63.43) 76 (60.67) 78 (62.03) Moringa 1% (69.73) 80 (63.43) 84 (66.42) 2% (63.43) 76 (60.67) 78 (62.03) Hibiscus 1% (69.73) 80 (63.43) 84 (66.42) 2% (66.42) 76 (60.67) 80 (63.43) Pungam 1% (74.66) 90 (71.57) 92 (73.57) 2% (77.08) 90 (71.57) 93 (74.66) Arappu 1% (78.46) 92 (73.57) 94 (75.82) 2% (78.46) 92 (73.57) 94 (75.82) Mean (70.63) 84 (66.42) 87 (68.87) T D T x D T D T x D T D T x D SEd CD(P= 0.05) NS NS NS (Figures in parentheses indicate arc sine values)

4 Vol. 31, No. 3, compounds (Ovcharov, 1969). With this view, seed fortification with botanical leaf extracts were tried to improve the germination and field emergence of cluster bean. MATERIAL AND METHODS The bulk seeds obtained from Department of Vegetables, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University were graded for uniformity and were fortified with six different botanical leaf extracts viz., prosopis (Prosopis juliflora), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), moringa (Moringa olifera), Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdarifa), pungam (Pongamia pinnata) and arappu (Albizia amara) in two different concentrations (1and 2%) and two durations of soaking (3h and 6h) and were evaluated for the initial seed and seedling quality characteristics viz., germination (%) (ISTA, 1999). speed of germination (Maguire, 1962), root length (cm) (the distance between the collar region to the tip of the primary root) shoot length (cm ) ( the distance between collar region to the tip of the primary leaf )drymatter production of 10 seedlings 1 ( mg) (dried in a hot air oven maintained at 85 o C for 48h and cooled in a desiccator for 30 min. and weighed in an electronic digital balance),. vigour index (Abdul- Baki and Anderson, 1973) and field emergence as follows. Field emergence (%) = Normal seedlings produced x 100 Number of seeds sown The data from various experiments were analysed statistically adopting the procedure described by Gomez and Gomez (1984). Wherever necessary, the percentage values were transformed to angular (arc sine) values, before carrying out the statistical analysis. The critical difference (CD) were worked out at 5 per cent (P = 0.05) level. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results of the investigation expressed that among the leaf extracts, Prosopis, pungam and arappu at 1% and 2% concentrations were superior than the control. The increased germination percentage over control by 1% and 2% Prosopis leaf extracts were 7.3 per cent and 4 per cent, 1 and 2% pungam were 6 and 4 per cent and 1 and 2% arappu were 12 and 9 per cent respectively (Table 1). Other botanicals namely tamarind, moringa and Hibiscus were not effective for enhancing the seed germination. The basis of increase in germination by these botanical leaf extracts is not much known due to the lack of information on the active principle involved in it. However, it is presumed that these botanicals contain some of the micronutrients, which are conducive for seed invigouration. In addition, Lu et al. (1983) reported that the leaf powders like arappu contain saponin like substance, which act as a precursor of gibberlic acid and invigourated the seed at a particular concentration. The optimum duration for seed fortification was found to be 3h for cluster bean, which recorded 12 per cent higher germination than 6h. Among the evaluated concentrations, arappu and pungam responded well at higher concentrations of 2% while Prosopis responded well with 1% concentration. The other vigour parameters such as speed of germination, root length, shoot length and drymatter production were also in line with that of germination. The vigour index values, the combined representation of germination and seedling length recorded higher values with seeds fortified with arappu leaf extract (1%) which was 26 per cent higher than the control. The field emergence was also higher in seeds fortified with arappu, pungam and Prosopis leaf extracts, which exerted a maximum of 8-9 per cent, increased field emergence compared to control. The improvement in field emergence by botanical leaf extracts could be ascribed to the activation of cells resulted in the enhancement of mitochondrial activity leading to the formation of more high energy compounds and vital bio molecules which were made available during the early phase of germination

5 168 LEGUME RESEARCH as reported by Dharmalingam et al. (1988). Thus, the study highlighted that botanical seed fortification either with prosopis, pungam and arappu at one and two per cent concentrations were superior than the control in terms of germination, vigour and field emergence. The optimum duration for seed fortification was 3h. Seed fortification with tamarind, moringa and hibiscus were not effective for the germination enhancement. REFERENCES Abdul-Baki, A.A. and Anderson, J.D. (1973). Crop Sci., 13: Anon, (2002). Agric. and Industry Survey, 12(11,12): Dharmalingam, C. et al. (1988). The Hindu, Nov. 16. ISTA, (1999). Seed Sci. and Technol., Supplt Rules, 27: Lu, S.D. et al. (1983). Shanghai Agric. Sci. Technol., 69: (9170) Maguire, J.D. (1962). Crop Sci., 2: Ovcharov, K.E. (1969). Physiological Basis of Seed germination. Amerind Publ. Co. Pvt. Ltd., India. Peerenboom, R. (2004). Proc. of the 1 st World Conference on Organic Seed. Challenges and Opportunities for Organic Agriculture and the Seed Industry. pp Vadivelu, K.K., et al. (2001). Recent Techniques and Participatory Approaches on Quality Seed Production. (Vanangamudi K., et al. eds.) Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.