Phosphorus coating on pearl millet seed in low P Alfisol improves plant establishment and increases stover more than seed yield

Karanam, P V and Vadez, V (2010) Phosphorus coating on pearl millet seed in low P Alfisol improves plant establishment and increases stover more than seed yield. Experimental Agriculture, 46 (4). pp. 457-469.

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Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is one of the main limiting nutrients in the semi-arid regions where pearl millet is grown; its deficiency leads to poor seedling establishment and eventually poor crop yield. Experiments were carried out in pots and field-like conditions to evaluate the effect of seed priming and seed coating with P on the shoot biomass at two and four weeks after sowing (WAS), and on the panicle and stover yield at maturity of three hybrid varieties of pearl millet in low P Alfisol. Overall, seed priming did not increase shoot biomass at two and four WAS. In pots, seed coating at a rate of approximately 400 g P ha−1 increased vegetative biomass over 400% at early stages, and panicle yield by about 50%, over the non-coated treatment, with genotypic variation in the magnitude of the response. In field-like conditions, seed coating restored stover biomass to 85–100% of that in the non-limiting P treatment, whereas the panicle yield remained 25–35% lower than in the non-limiting P treatment, but still 45–65% higher than the non-coated treatment. P deficiency delayed the time to flowering by 20–24 days compared to the non-limiting P treatment, but plants in the seed coating treatment reduced that gap by 10–14 days. Seed P coating treatment appears a valid option to promote pearl millet seedling establishment and then to boost yield under low soil P conditions. The maintenance of an effect of seed coating on panicle yield in pots suggests a positive early effect on developmental processes before panicle initiation.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
CRP:	UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Pearl Millet, Millet
Subjects:	Mandate crops > Millets Mandate crops > Millets > Pearl Millet Others > Plant Physiology
Depositing User:	Users 6 not found.
Date Deposited:	25 Aug 2011 05:53
Last Modified:	12 Apr 2018 07:41
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/550
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0014479710000608
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	The authors would like to thank Dr C. T. Hash and pearl millet breeding team, ICRISAT, for providing the seed material. Authors are also gratefulfor the excellent peer reviewing of Dr Kanwar Sahrawat and Dr Mainassara Zaman.
Links:	Author

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