Comparison between Pulsed and Static Magnetic Treatment for Enhancement of Germination Characteristics in Differentially Aged Maize Seeds

Maize (Zea mays L.) is third most important cereal crop after wheat and rice in the world and has multiple uses in food, feed and industrial sectors. In India, maize is cultivated throughout India under a wide range of agro-ecological conditions, both rainfed and irrigated. Rapid and uniform field emergence is essential to optimize stand establishment under all environmental conditions. The overall performance of the crop is based on the quality of the seed sown. High germination and vigour of the seed are important for uniform field emergence, better crop stand and high yield. Physiological constraints like poor germination and vigour, low seedling emergence and establishment result in uneven and low plant stand. Various seed treatments have been devised to improve the rate and uniformity of emergence as well as seed viability in a number of crop species [1-4]. Magnetic treatment is a non invasive physical stimulant used for improving vigour and field emergence in seeds. Numerous reports are available on the stimulating effects of magnetopriming on plant growth and yield under non-stressed condition [5-7]. These were supported by response of magnetic field exposure on enhanced level of assimilatory pigments, chlorophyll and average nucleic acids in plants [8]. Increase in the amount of chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll contents of the primary and secondary leaves, both in 10 and 14 days old seedlings were observed in fresh paddy seeds exposed to Pulsed Magnetic Field [9]. Radhakrishnan et al., [7] reported that pretreatment of pulsed magnetic treatment (PMF) plays important roles in improvement of crop productivity of soybean through the enhancement of protein, mineral accumulation and enzyme activities which leads to increase the growth and yield. Vashisth and Nagarajan [10] observed the effect of preAbstract Magnetic treatment is one of the seed enhancement treatments which are a noninvasive and non-aqueous technique that is advantageous over traditional chemical processes or priming due to the absence of toxic residues and avoidance of hydration. Magnetic field treatment is two types viz, pulsed and static magnetic treatment but which one is better among them is still poor known. A study was done in spring-summer 2013 at IARI research farm to compare pulsed and static magnetic treatment for enhancement of germination characteristics in differentially aged maize seeds. Two differentially aged seed lots of Pusa composite-3 (kharif 2009 and 2011 produce) was subjected to pulsed [100 mT for 2 h with 6 min. interval (T1)], and static magnetic treatment [100 mT for 2 h (T2)] for optimization of dose for enhancement of germination characteristics and one without exposing the seeds into magnetic field known as untreated (T0). Both magnetic field treatments showed beneficial effects on total emergence, speed of emergence, seedling weight (fresh and dry weight), leaf area and vigour index to varying degrees over control. Both the magnetic treatments showed positive effect and the enhancement in low vigour lot was more as compared to high vigour lot. The effect of magnetic treatment was more pronounced in pulsed magnetic field treatment as compared to static magnetic field. It is concluded that both pre-sowing magnetic treatment can be effectively used for improving field performance on low vigour lots of maize.