🍯 Seed Treatment

Methods, Types, Examples

Seed Treatment

👉🏻 Besides breaking seed dormancy, seed treatment is also done before sowing the seeds for the following purposes:

  • To protect from seed borne diseases and insect pests damage
  • To promote quick germination by breaking dormancy
  • To have convenience in sowing. Ex. removing fuzz in cotton with conc. H2SO4
  • To hasten nitrogen fixation capacity in case of pulses. Ex. Rhizobium culture.
  • To induce earliness (Vernalization treatment)

Treatment for Diseases and Insects control

(a) Physical treatment

  • (i) Hot water treatment: Seeds are kept in hot water at a certain temperature for certain period. Later on, after cooling in cold water such seeds are dried in shade. This method is successful in controlling following diseases:
    • Loose smut of Wheat (54°C for 10 minutes)
    • Loose smut of Barley (54°C for 13 minutes)
    • Alternaria blight of Wheat (38°C for 10 minutes)
    • Leaf spot of Til (54°C for one hour)
  • (ii) Solar heat treatment: After soaking the seeds in water for some hours, seeds are dried in scorching sun in the month of May-June by keeping on cemented floor or metal-sheet. This method is used to control loose smut of Wheat and Barley. (Loothrs and Satar)

(b) Chemical treatment

  • Different fungicides e.g. Agrosan G.N., Ceresan, Captan, Thiram etc. are used for the same.

(B) Seed Inoculations in Legumes

  • Before sowing the legumes crops in the new area, the legume seeds are to be inoculated with Rhizobium culture.

Treatment in Important Crops

  • Sorghum: Thirum or 300 mesh sulphur: Seed is coated in seed dressing drum or earthen pot @ 3.4 g/kg seed against smut disease.
  • Pear Millet: Brine solution treatment is given @ 20 per cent against eargot and to discard light & diseased seed.
  • Paddy: Seed is treated with brine solution @ 3 per cent against blast of paddy and to discard unfilled seed.
  • Wheat & Oilseed crops: Seed is coated with Thirum or Bavistin @ 5 g/ kg seed against seed borne diseases.
  • Cotton: Seed is treated with organo mercurial compound like Ceresan, Agrosan @ 3 g or Thirum @ 5g against seed borne disease like anthracnose.
  • Small seeded crops like Sesamum, bajra, tobacco, etc; Seed is mixed with fine sand or soil for even sowing of seed in the field.
  • Potato:
    • Seed is dipped in 1 per cent Thiourea solution for breaking the seed dormancy.
    • Seed is dipped in streptomycin solution @200 g in 100 lit. Water for 1 hour against Ring rots disease.
  • Legume crops like Mung, Urd, Soybean etc.
    • Seed is treated with Thirum @3 g/kg seed against seed borne disease.
    • Seed is treated with Rhizobium culture @ 250g/10kg seed for ‘N’ fixation & better nodulation.
  • Sugarcane:
    • Hot water treatment (50°C) or hot air treatment (54°C) is given to sets for 2 hrs. Against grassy shoot & other diseases.
    • Sets are treated with OMC 6 per cent @ 500g in 100 lit. Water by dipping for 5 min. against smut & increase germination or Bavistin @ 200g in 100 lit. for 5 min.

Seed Plot technique of Potato

  • It was given by Pushkarnath in 1967. Objective:
  • To produce seeds free from virus Y, A, X and S. These viruses are transmitted by aphids.
  • Aphid population is low in hills during April to August while it is low in the plains during October to early January.
  • Nucleus seed of potato is produced in the hills during April to August when aphid population is low.
  • It is brought to plains and is stored in cold-storage for planting the seed crop in October.
  • The seed production practices are:
    • Start with disease free seed stock
    • Select suitable location i.e. aphids free during crop growth
    • Adopt lands isolation and other requirement of certified seed production
    • Rogueing and inspection of crops
    • Other good crop management

Indian Seed Industry

  • Seed is the critical determinant of agricultural production on which depends the performance and efficacy of other inputs.
  • Quality seeds appropriate to different agro-climatic conditions and in sufficient quantity at affordable prices are required to raise productivity.
  • Quality seed alone increase in the productivity at least 10-15% (ICAR 1993).
  • The Indian seed industry is the eighth largest in the world.
  • First private seed company: Sutton and Sons (Existence in 1912 in Kolkata)
  • Indian seed industry annual growth rate of 12% to 13 %.
  • The Planning Commission in its Mid-Term Appraisal of the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07) has concluded as follows with regard to seeds:

“Despite a huge institutional framework for seed production both in the public and private sector, availability of good quality seeds continues to be a problem for the farmers. As a result, they prefer to rely on farm saved seeds; seed replacement rate continues to remain in the range of 2-10 per cent in certain states for certain crops, which is much below the desired level of 20 per cent for most crops. As is well known, seed replacement rate has a strong positive correlation with the productivity and production of crops. There is a need to rejuvenate the seeds sector through revamping the public sector seed companies, including the State Seed Corporations”.

  • The desirable seed replacement rates, without which it is not possible to achieve higher productivity are 25% for self-pollinated crops, 35% for cross pollinated crops and 100% for hybrids.

Seed Replacement Rate of Select Crops

  • Seed Replacement Ratio denotes how much of the total cropped area was sown with certified seeds in comparison to farm saved seeds.
  • It also denotes actual quality seed distributed to farmers vis-a-vis actual seed required for cultivation of crops.

Seed Multiplication Ratio

👉🏻 It is the number of seeds to be produced from a single seed when it is sown and harvested.

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