Effect of hardening on germination and seedling characters of maize (Zea mays L)

The ideal temperature is necessary for the maize crop to provide the highest harvest yield. Environmental stress elements such as abiotic and biotic stress factors are expected to intensify and become more widespread as a result of climate change. Drought, temperature, and salinity are the key factors affecting maize output globally. Various management practices may help in contributing tolerance to the plants against adverse environmental impact, and seed hardening is one among them. The experiment was conducted in the laboratory of Seed science and Technology, Department of Agriculture, Kalasalingam School of Agriculture and Horticulture, Krishnankoil, Tamil Nadu to study the effect of various hardening treatments in maize seeds. Maize seeds were hardened with the following chemicals at varying concentrations for 12 hours viz., T0 – Control, T1 – Distilled water, T2 – Boric acid (0.5%), T3 – Boric acid (1.0%), T4 – Boric acid (1.5%), T5 – KNO3 (0.5%), T6 – KNO3 (1.0%), T7 – KNO3 (1.5%), T8 – KH2PO4 (0.5%), T9 – KH2PO4 (1.0%) and T10 – KH2PO4 (1.5%). Significant differences were found between control and hardening treatments. Maximum germination percentage, shoot, and root length, seedling length, fresh and dry weight of the seedling vigor index were observed for the seeds treated with 1.5% KNO3. This experiment also showed the positive influence of KH2PO4 (1.5%) in various seedling characters followed by 1.5% KNO3. This study might help to improve the seedling character with the help of seed-hardening treatments to withstand adverse abiotic stress situations