Vermicompost Leach's Effect on Onion Seed Germination and Seedling Emergence in Response to Drought Stress

The Seed Technology Division, BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh carried out a lab experiment in 2020–2021 to find the best vermicompost treatment for enhancing seed germination and seedling emergence in an environment of drought stress. With 4 replications, the experiment used a 2-factorial completely randomized design. Five different amounts of priming were applied to onion seeds: hydropriming, 5% vermicompost priming (VCP), 10% VCP, 15% VCP, and untreated control. In addition, the onion seedlings were treated with 10% and 15% PEG, two different levels of drought stress. BARI Piaj-4 onion was the kind that was used. The findings demonstrated that, under drought-stressed situations, seed priming with vermicompost leach improved seed germination and seedling emergence percent. especially, the vermicompost leach at 10% under 10% PEG drought stress condition showed the best results in terms of promptness index (123), germination stress tolerance index (84.25%), seed germination (90%), seedling emergence percentage (81%), and seedling vigor index (614).