The experiment on "Effect of seed treatments on germination, growth and vigour of Papaya (Carica papaya L.)" was carried out at Karimangalam, Dharmapuri district. The experiment was conducted in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with ten treatments in three replications. The treatments comprised of using water, hot water (60° C), growth regulators like IBA and GA3 with concentrations of 100 and 500 ppm, respectively, chemicals such as thiourea and KNO3 both with the concentration of 1% and bio-regulators such as vermiwash (20%), panchagavya (3%) and cow dung slurry. The Papaya fruit seeds were dipped in the hot water for 2 minutes, growth regulators and chemicals for 10 minutes and in water and bio-regulators for 24 hours. Then the seeds were planted in the polybags and kept in the area covered with shade net. The result of the above experiment revealed that the germination parameters viz., germination percentage (96.10%), days taken for initial germination (5.60 days) were recorded best in the pre-treatment of 1% KNO3 (T5). The various growth parameters such viz., number of leaves (10.56), stem girth (3.45 mm), seedling height (21.43 cm), root length (9.20 cm), number of lateral roots (14.24), fresh weight of seedling (5.02 g), and survival percentage (93.15%) were also observed highest in the pretreatment of 1% KNO3 (T5). The seedling vigour were also found to be maximum in the pretreatment of 1% KNO3 (T5). The least germination, growth and vigour parameters were observed under control (T10). Hence, from the above experiment, it can be concluded that the chemical KNO3 @ 1% concentration performed best based on the germination, growth and vigour parameters when compared to other treatments.

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Field experiments were conducted at Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar to study the influence of vermiwash on the growth, yield attributes and nutrient uptake of rice during Navarai 2013 (January to April) and Kuruvai 2013 (June to September). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. These were eleven treatments involving panchakavya, fish amino acid and vermiwash sprayed at different concentrations and time. The results of the study revealed that foliar application of vermiwash @ 5% at tillering and flowering stages had resulted in significantly better plant growth in terms of plant height, number of tillers and dry matter production, higher number of yield attributes, grain and straw yield. This was followed by fish amino acid @ 3% at tillering and flowering. Foliar application of vermiwash @ 5% at tillering and flowering resulted in significantly increased nutrient uptake in rice.