Integrated nutrient management and seed priming are viable options to enhance seed yield and quality in quinoa (Chinopodium quinoa Willd.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute, Jaipur during two consecutive rabi seasons of 2018–19 and 2019–20 to study the effect of integrated nutrient management and seed priming on seed yield and quality in quinoa. Experiment was laid out in a split plot design with twelve treatment combinations comprising four nutrient management practices i.e. no fertilizer (NM₀), N₄₅P₂₃K₃₀+2% FeSO₄ (NM₁), N₄₅P₂₃K₃₀+2% DAP (NM₂); and NC₁₂₅+VC₁₂₅₀+PSB₁₀+KSB₁₀+AZ₁₀ (NM₃) as main-plot treatments and three pre-sowing seed priming technologies i.e. no seed priming (SP₀), 1.5% Trichoderma harziannum (SP₁) and, 20% Pseudomonas fluorescence (SP₂) as sub-plot treatments. Results showed that application of NM₂ and SP₁ exhibited significantly higher plant height (19.5 and 7.2%), number of branches (40.5 and 11.6%), seed weight (12.9 and 4.6%), total dry matter (TDM) (30.5 and 3.9%), chlorophyll content (47.4 and 3.8%) and crude protein content (27.6 and 1.8%) over control. Cumulative effect of these parameters was exhibited in terms of highest yield potential (24.64 and 23.14q ha⁻¹) (28.5 and 9.4% higher) and excellent seed/seedling quality and energy parameters along with highest net return (₹61974 and 55501 ha⁻¹) and B:C ratio (2.55 and 2.22) over control. A positive significant correlation for seed yield was also observed with plant height (0.983), seed weight (0.990), TDM (0.955), chlorophyll content (0.950), protein content (0.946) and seed/seedling quality parameters. Overall, application of N₄₅P₂₃K₃₀+2% DAP spray at pre-flowering stage along with pre-sowing seed priming with 1.5% Trichoderma harziannum is recommended as suitable strategy to improve yield and quality in quinoa under semi-arid conditions.

Keywords:

• Quinoa
• nutrient management
• seed priming
• seed yield
• seedling vigor index

Acknowledgements

This research was a part of Seed Production and Certification section of technical programme 2018–19 and 2019–20 of AICRP on Seed (Crops), ICAR-IISS, Mau, U.P. and it was conducted by Seed Technology Research, AICRP on Seed (Crops), Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute (SKN Agriculture University, Jobner), Durgapura, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.