Effect of plant oil treatments and containers on electrical conductivity, dehydrogenase activity and Mycoflora incidence of sorghum seed during storage

The present investigation was carried out at Department of Seed Science and Technology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar to assess the effect of plant oils treatments and storage containers on seed quality and storability in sorghum. Seeds of forage sorghum variety HJ 541 were treated with plant oils and stored in three containers. The two factor experiment comprising of ten different treatments including plant oils were given to seeds (T0 – Untreated, T1 - Castor oil @ 2 ml/kg seed, T2 - Neem oil @ 2 ml/kg seed, T3 - Aonla oil @ 2 ml/kg seed, T4 - Til oil @ 2 ml/kg seed, T5 - Linseed oil @ 2 ml/kg seed, T6 - Karanj oil @ 2 ml/kg seed, T7 - Akhrot oil @ 2 ml/kg seed, T8 - Ajwain oil @ 2ml/kg seed, T9 - Carbendazim @ 2 g/kg seed) and kept in different containers (C1: Cloth bag, C2: Polythene bag and C3: Metal box) under ambient conditions in laboratory in three replicates. All the treatment combinations were evaluated for seed quality parameters viz. electrical conductivity, dehydrogenase activity and seed mycoflora. The neem oil (2 ml kg-1) performed better than others and, among containers polythene bag was proved better followed by metal box and cloth bag for storability at ambient condition. The dehydrogenase enzyme activity of seeds found decreased with the passage of time in all the containers and treatments. The electrical conductivity and the percentage frequency of seed mycoflora showed increased values with the progress of storage period. Carbendazim and neem oil were found most effective against the different fungal genera of sorghum seed in all the three containers. Among the containers less incidence of mycoflora was observed in seed stored in polythene bag followed by metal box in the all the treatments along with control.