Seed invigoration treatments on different seed sizes of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) for improved storability and field performance

Pre-storage dry physiological treatments with a pharmaceutical formulation (aspro, active ingredient 56.5% ortho-acetylsalicylic acid, at 100 mg/kg of seed), chemicals (salicylic acid at 50 mg/kg of seed and common bleaching powder, active ingredient approximately 30% calcium hypochlorite, at 2g/kg of seed) and crude plant materials (finely powdered dry red chilli fruit and trigonella seed powder, each at 1g/kg of seed) and a mid-storage wet treatment (soaking-drying) showed significantly improved post-storage germinability as well as field performance and productivity of the resultant crop over untreated control. The invigoration treatment effects were more or less similar in all the three seed sizes. Thus all good physiological treatments were equally effective in all seed sizes (large, medium and small) of the same seed stock. Use of large seed proved much better for germinability, field performance and productivity than the medium and small sized seed. Among the treatments, aspro and trigonella seed powder, in particular, showed better results in improving storability, yield and other yield attributes. The interaction between treatment and seed size was statistically not significant implying thereby that the treatment effect was independent of seed size. The statistical nonsignificance of the interaction between seed size and invigoration treatment would indicate the quantitative nature of the effects of seed size. The results clearly demonstrate the suitability of large sized wheat seed as the planting material; as such, use of small seed which showed significantly poor performance in terms of storability and field performance should be avoided as far as possible.