%0 Journal Article
%@ 0004-9409
%A Harris, D
%A Breese, W A
%A Rao, J V D K K
%D 2005
%F icrisat:5096
%I CSIRO Publishing
%J Australian Journal of Agricultural Research
%N 11
%P 1211-1218
%T The improvement of crop yield in marginal environments using ‘on-farm’ seed priming: nodulation, nitrogen fixation, and disease resistance
%U http://oar.icrisat.org/5096/
%V 56
%X On-farm seed priming with water is a low-cost, low-risk technology that is easily adopted by  resource-poor farmers. It increases the yield of tropical and subtropical annual crops in marginal areas by a  combination of better crop establishment and improved individual plant performance. The effects of seed priming,  i.e. soaking seeds overnight in water before sowing, on plant growth and development are consequences of faster  germination, emergence, and more vigorous early growth. Results from in-vitro, on-station and on-farmexperiments  are discussed.  Recent work has tested opportunities for resource-poor farmers to use seed priming as a vehicle for applying  biofertilisers (Rhizobia). Preliminary results from field experiments suggest that these interventions are very  effective over and above the already demonstrated benefits of priming with water alone. In a pot experiment  using chickpea, combining a Rhizobium inoculation with seed priming significantly increased nodulation but had  little effect on yield. Nevertheless, the results confirmed that Rhizobium inoculation is compatible with on-farm  seed priming.  Observations in the field have shown that some primed crops show enhanced resistance to disease, either as a  consequence of increased vigour, altered phenology, or due to some more fundamental mechanism associated with  exposure of seeds to anaerobic conditions during priming. Priming seeds of a highly susceptible cultivar of pearl  millet in water for 8 h before sowing significantly reduced the incidence of downy mildew in artificially infected  seedlings from 80% to less than 60%.
%Z The authors thank Mr Julian Bridges for his assistance with  this work. This paper is an output from projects R7438  and R7379 funded by the UK Department for International  Development (DFID) Plant Sciences Research Programme  and administered by the CAZS Natural Resources. The views  expressed are not necessarily those of DFID.