SEED DEVELOPMENT AND INDUCTION OF GERMINATION OR DORMANCY, AND STORAGE POTENTIAL IN PROSO MILLET

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) short duration crop, hence adopts the quality to escape end-of-season drought.Cultivation of millets is necessary in hill agro-ecosystem, as they are climate resilient crops.Production of proso millet in India is low; to enhance production and productivity, it is necessary to study seed quality as seed is the main carrier of technology.This study deals with analysis of seed quality during development and post-harvest storage.Such as, anthesis, seed development through various stages including physiological and harvest maturity.Analysis of induction of seed germination and dormancy, and seed vigour potential at different development stages including during storage were performed.Results showed that proso millet seed require acquisition of desiccation tolerance to express full germination and vigour.In addition, seed exhibited highest vigour at physiological maturity, and immediately after physiological maturity induction of dormancy appeared, and increased up to 50% at harvest maturity.Thus, at harvest maturity, seed lots showed heterogeneity in physiological seed quality.Overall, there was 50% reduction in in seed quality due to dormancy.Hence, it is suggested that proso millet seeds may be harvested at physiological maturity.Otherwise, seed collected at harvest maturity may remain 50% dormant, however, seed dormancy is released slowly during storage.Moreover, this study has been conducted on single genotype, need to be repeated with large number varieties and germplasm to improve seed quality through conventional breeding.