Impact of seed priming with melatonin, nano-urea and nano-zinc on growth, quality and yield of radish

Seed priming is an important pre-sowing treatment, which generally improves seed germination and reduces the time for seedling emergence. Further, it may also improve the growth, quality and yield attributes in different crop plants. The present investigation was conducted during the winter season of the year 2023 in the experimental farm, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, DAV University, Jalandhar, to determine the effect of seed priming (SP) with melatonin (100 mM), nano-urea (30 ml/l) and nano-zinc (2.5 g/l) on growth, quality and yield attributes of radish. The experiment was laid in the randomized block design with three replications comprising twelve treatments viz., T1 (control), T2 (RDF 100%), T3 (RDF 75% + SP with melatonin), T4 (RDF 75% + SP with nano-urea), T5 (RDF 75% + SP with nano-zinc), T6 (RDF 75% + SP with melatonin + nano-urea), T7 (RDF 75% + SP with melatonin + nano-urea + nano zinc), T8 (RDF 100% recommended dose + SP with melatonin i.e., 100 mM), T9 ( RDF i.e., 100% recommended dose + SP with nano-urea), T10 (RDF 100% + SP with nano-zinc), T11 (RDF 100% + SP with melatonin + nano-urea) and T12 (RDF 100% + SP with melatonin + nano-urea + nano-zinc). Growth parameters like root diameter, root weight, fresh weight of the plant, dry weight of the plant, root yield per plot and root yield per hectare were observed maximum in the treatment T8. However, among the quality attributes, the highest ascorbic acid, TSS, carotenoid content, and chlorophyll content (chlorophyll A, chlorophyll B and Total chlorophyll) were recorded in the treatment T12.