Effect of organic foliar spray with pulse sprout extract on seed yield and quality of rice (Oryza sativa)

Organic seed is the basic for organic agriculture, since it is a crucial link in the chain from research, breeding, seed production, to organic production. With organic seeds the grower can complete the chain of organic input. To develop an organic foliar spray technique and for organic seed production, experiments were carried out to study the effect of organic foliar spray with pulse sprout extract on rice. In this study, horse gram and cowpea, the unexploited legumes of the tropics with high nutritional quality and comparatively low cost were used for preparing the pulse sprout extracts, an organic foliar spraying material. Higher accumulation of bioactive substances in sprouted seeds offers immense scope to develop an inexpensive and effective organic foliar spray technology so as to achieve better crop growth and higher seed yield of rice, the major staple food of the world. The biochemical analysis was done in both extracts to estimate the total antioxidants activity, soluble protein content, total soluble sugars, ascorbic acid content and minerals like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron and zinc. Subsequently, the effect of pulse sprout extract spray in improving crop growth, tillering, productivity, and resultant seed quality of was studied by spraying on the parental lines of rice hybrid CORH3 (A, B and R lines) and rice variety CR 1009. The experiment consisted of four trials. In the first trial, four concentrations of pulse extract (1, 2, 3, and 4%) were evaluated in the R line (medium duration variety) of CORH3 (medium duration). In the subsequent trials, the best concentrations (2 and 3% for horse gram and 1 and 2% for cowpea), determined from the first trial, were evaluated again in two medium duration lines of B line multiplication (AXB) and hybrid seed production (AxR). The fourth trial was done with a long duration variety namely CR 1009. Spraying of pulse sprout extract significantly improved majority of the growth and yield attributes culminating in significantly higher seed yield, in all the four trials. The study firmly revealed foliar sprays with either 3% horse gram sprout extracts or 2% cow pea sprout extract during active tillering and seed filling stages of rice crop, can significantly increase the growth and yield attributes, eventually resulting in higher seed yield, irrespective of the cultivars. It could be concluded that foliar spraying of 3% horse gram sprout extract or 2% cow pea sprout extract at active tillering stage and seed filling enhances seed yield attributes and yield in rice.