Germination and Seedling Vigour of Soybean (Glycine max) and Blackgram (Vigna mungo) as Affeced by Priming Methods in Lamjung

Abstract

To address poor germination and seedling establishment in legume cultivation this study explored the impact of seed priming with different concentrations of gibberellic acid (GA₃) compared to hydropriming on soybean and blackgram. Two separate experiments were conducted with four replications each in Completely Randomized Design. The seeds underwent hormonal priming with varying concentrations of GA₃ - 50 ppm, 75 ppm, 100 ppm and 125 ppm and hydro-priming at the Agronomy laboratory of Lamjung Campus. For soybean, 100 ppm GA₃ produced the best results (P<0.05) in terms of germination rate (99%), root and seedling length, and seedling vigor index (2054.20). Meanwhile, 50 ppm GA₃ showed the fastest germination and better germination index (237.00) compared to other treatments (P<0.05). In blackgram, 50 ppm GA₃ treatment resulted in 100% germination and significant effects on various parameters, including coefficient of velocity of germination and germination index (244.75) while 75 ppm GA₃ exhibited the fastest germination time and longest length of root (10.85 cm) (P<0.05). Hydropriming improved overall seedling characteristics like seedling length and seedling vigor index (2074.16) (P<0.05). This highlights the effectiveness of hydro-priming, priming with 50 ppm GA₃ for blackgram and 100 ppm GA₃ for soybean, emphasizing the importance of priming methods.