Storability of polymer coated CORH 3 hybrid rice seeds

Maintenance of seed vigour and viability during storage is a matter of prime concern in agriculture. Owing to the sub-tropical climate prevailing in major parts of the country, seeds of most crop species show rapid deterioration and hybrid rice is no exception. Freshly harvested seed of hybrid rice CORH 3 were dried to safe level moisture (<13%), graded to uniform size and coated with different polymers viz., Genius coat 171, Genius coat 172, Arcus, Myconate and Quick roots. The polymer coated seeds were stored in polyethylene bag of 700 gauge thickness and kept under ambient condition for nine months along with untreated control seeds. The seeds coated with Quick roots polymer recorded higher germination of 79 per cent at ninth month of storage compared to untreated control seeds (71 per cent). The electrical conductivity (0.129 dSm-1) was low in the seeds coated with Quick roots with nil pathogen infection and insect incidence upto nine months of storage.