Effect of Seed Coating Polymer and Micronutrients on Stomatal Conductance and Resistance at Different Growth Stages of Pigeonpea

Aim: The study aims to evaluate the effect of seed coating polymer and micronutrients on stomatal conductance and resistance at different growth stages of pigeonpea.

Place of Study: Field experiment was carried out during kharif 2014 at Main Agricultural Research Station, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, India.

Methodology: A randomised block design was applied to determine the effect of seed coating polymer and micronutrients on stomatal conductance and resistance at different growth stages of pigeonpea. The experiment consisted of 16 different treatments laid out in a randomised block design with three replications. The micronutrients were applied to the seed either individually or in combination as per the studied treatments.

Results and Discussion: The study result revealed improved physiological parameters due to seed polymerisation with micronutrients and foliar spray, there was a significant difference in the seed yield of treated treatments with that of the untreated control. Physiological observations on Stomatal conductance (M mol/m2s) and resistance (m2s/mol) of five randomly tagged plants were recorded by using leaf porometer (SC-1 porometer, Decagon Devices, Pullman, WA, USA) at 45, 90 and 120 DAS and finally seed yield was recorded, analysed statistically to study the effect of seed coating polymer and micronutrients on stomatal conductance and resistance at different growth stages of pigeonpea. Seed coating with polymer, micronutrients and foliar spray had significant (p<0.05) influence on stomatal conductance, resistance and seed yield of pigeonpea. Stomatal conductance differed significantly due to seed polymerisation with micronutrients and foliar spray at all the growth stages.

Conclusion: Micronutrients viz., zinc, boron and potassium molybdate in combination along with standardised seed coating polymer significantly influenced the physiological parameters viz., stomatal conductance and resistance of leaf thus enhancing the photosynthetic efficiency, finally helping in the better establishment of seedlings and higher seed yield.