ENHANCEMENT OF SEEDLING QUALITY OF CHILLI THROUGH PRIMING WITH NaCl

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the laboratory of the Department of Horticulture, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur, Bangladesh during October 2022 to November 2022 to evaluate the growth and development of chilli seedlings as affected by priming with NaCl. The five treatments used in the experiment viz., T1= priming with water (hydro-priming), T2= priming with 100 mmol/L of NaCl, T3= priming with 200 mmol/L of NaCl, T4= priming with 300 mmol/L of NaCl, T5= priming with 400 mmol/L of NaCl with seeds of chilli cv. Premium Chilli F1. The single factor experiment was conducted in the Completely Randomized Design with five replications. Thirteen growth and development attributes were compared all of which differed significantly (p≤0.05) among the treatments. Regarding the germination, the highest percent (95.00%) was in T2. The highest shoot length (5.83cm), shoot diameter (1.31 mm), length of the longest root (9.13 cm), diameter of the longest root (0.67 mm), number of functional roots per seedlings (19.00), number of true leaves per seedlings (5.33), length of lamina (3.37 cm), breadth of lamina (1.57 cm), area of lamina (4.90 cm2), shoot fresh weight per shoot plant (0.20 mg), root fresh weight per plant (0.09 mg), percent of root dry weight (0.92%), percent of shoot dry weight (5.75%) was found in T2. In all cases, the minimum values of all the parameters were recorded in control treatment (T1: hydro-priming). The result suggested that the seedling grown in T2 i.e. priming with 100 mmol/L of NaCl solution resulted the overall good seedling growth of chilli.