The field experiments were conducted in the Dept. of Seed Science and Technology, College of Agriculture, Vijayapur during kharif 2013 and 2014. The treatments consisted of three planting geometry (22,222, 27,798 and 37,037 plants per ha) and transplanting of different aged seedlings (A1- 21 day old seedlings, A2- 28 day old seedlings, A3- 35 day old seedlings and A4- Direct seed dibbling). Seedlings of BSMR-736( V1) and TS-3R (V2 ) were raised by using a polythene bag of 6 X 4 cm size in nursery. The results of the investigations indicated that the transplanting of 35 days old seedling with planting geometry of 27,798 plants per ha in BSMR -736 (2501 kg /ha) which was on par with transplanting of 28 days old seedlings and lowest value was seen in seed dibbling at planting geometry of 37,037 in TS-3R(1862 kg /ha). The 34 per cent increased seed yield mainly attributed to seedlings transplanted in planting geometry of 27,798 plants per ha.

ABSTARCTExperiment was conducted in the Seed Testing Laboratory during 2013 and 2014 at RARS, UAS Campus, Vijayapur, Karnataka State. The seeds were primed by soaking in different leaf extracts and chemical solution for one hour and then decanted the extracts and seeds were air dried under the shade to bring back to their original moisture content and used for seed quality studies. Seed germination was significantly influenced by age of the seeds and its interaction with botanicals and chemicals. Among the treatments, botanicals viz., Prosopis leaf extracts @ 2per cent recorded higher seed germination followed by Pongamia leaf extract @ 2per cent. Whereas, in chemicals higher germination was seen in KNO3@ 0.5 per cent but at par with CaCl 2 .2H 2 O @ 2 per cent. Lower seed germination was obtained with water soaked and control. The present investigation indicate that, seed priming with 2.0 per cent Prosopis leaf extract for one hours soaking enhanced the seed and seedling quality characters and hence it could be adopted as a pre-sowing seed priming treatment in pigeon pea.

An experiment was conducted to study the seed borne pathogens associated with Rabi sorghum genotypes at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Bijapur Karnataka . Fungi associated with Rabi sorghum genotypes were detected by using blotter method and studied the fungal colony characters after isolation. About six different seed borne pathogens were identified in the order of infection were, Aspergillus Spp, Penicillium Spp, Fusarium Spp, Rhizopus Spp, Botrytis Spp, Curvularia Spp. Among these fungi the most predominant fungi were Aspergillus spp.

The in vitro investigation was conducted during the kharif 2017 in the Department of Seed Science and Technology, College of Agriculture, Vijayapura. The experiment comprised of nine biopriming treatments along with control. The experiment was laid out in CRD with three replications. The seeds were subjected to in vitro studies and data was analysed statistically. The seed bioprimed with Rhizobium leguminosarum @ 20 per cent recorded higher seed germination percentage (90.50 %), shoot length (19.27 cm), root length (12.38 cm), seedling length (31.65 cm), seedling dry weight (373.0 mg), seedling vigour index I (2864), seedling vigour index II (33.75), dehydrogenase enzyme activity (1.010 OD value) and lower electrical conductivity (0.107 dS m-1) followed by Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 20 per cent, Fluorescent pseudomonad sp. @ 20 per cent as compared to control.

Background: Accelerated ageing is a method to assess seed storage performance by exposing the seeds to higher temperature and relative humidity to make seeds lose its vigour and viability quickly. The seed physiological parameters are then compared with the natural ageing to derive certain conclusions. But, the molecular pattern of seed deterioration under accelerated ageing varies compared to that of natural ageing.Methods: Chickpea, seed lots of variety JG-11 and Annigeri-1 were subjected to natural ageing in cloth bag with nine per cent initial seed moisture under ambient conditions. Simultaneously, representative sample of same seed lot were also aged at 41oC and 95±2% humidity up to 120 hours.Result: Both the ageing methods had significant negative effect on seed physiological and biochemical quality parameters. The germination potential of seeds tested after 48 hours of accelerated ageing (83.5%) was equal 10 months of natural ageing (85%) in JG-11, while also in Annigeri-1, 48 hours of accelerated ageing (78%) was nearly equal to 10 months of natural ageing (80%). The protein expression analyzed through 2D-PAGE at similar germination potential brought out by two independent ageing methods showed higher protein down regulation ratio (3.4) in accelerated ageing than in natural ageing (3.2) unveiling its rapidity in the seed deterioration process. Therefore, accelerated ageing can be used for predicting chickpea seed longevity.