RESPONSE OF ECO-FRIENDLY SEED COATING TECHNIQUES ON PHYSIOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF FINGER MILLET VARIETIES

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of different botanical extracts on germination, vigor and seedling growth performance of finger millet varieties under laboratory condition at Department of Seed Science and Technology Laboratory, SGRR University, Dehradun. The experiment was conducted by using eight different botanical extracts on three finger millet varieties seeds used as treatments along with control treatment (untreated seeds). Total twenty seven treatments combinations were replicated in four replications in factorial randomize block design. The treated and untreated seeds were used for germination and vigour test under optimal germination conditions for ten days. The experimental findings are indicated that the botanical treatments significantly influenced the seed germination and seedling growth of finger millet varieties. Among eight eco-friendly seed coating agents, the treatment of Rhododendron extract (T1 ) proved to be the most efficacious, exhibiting the highest germination percentage (92.88%), the quickest germination rate (4.61), and the greatest seedling vigor indices (VI-I; 1117.45 & VIII; 8.36). The interaction effects between varieties and coating materials considerably enhanced the performance with Rhododendron extract coating (T2 ), especially when applied with variety VL379. Thus it can be concluded that the variety VL379 perform best with Rhododendron seed coating among all other treatments for higher seeds quality of finger millet.