Efficacy of seed treatment in Ameliorating iron deficiency in aerobic rice on a calcareous soil

Abstract

A pot culture experiment was conducted on this soil to develop the protocol for seed treatment of iron using IR-64 and Pusa Sugandh- 3 as test cultivars of rice. Each processed soil (1.5 kg) was taken in 3 kg plastic pots. The soil was then mixed thoroughly and irrigated with water prior to sowing of soaked seeds of rice varieties. The basal application of N, P2O and K2O at the rate of 45, 26 and 18 mg kg-1 soil was made through AR-grade urea,monoammonium phosphate and potassium chloride. Four treatments of Fe included control, i.e. soaking of seed in distilled water as well as soaking seed in 0.5M FeSO4.7H2O, 0.25M FeSO4.7H2O and 0.05M Fe- EDTA. The duration of seed soaking was 12 and 24 h. Thus, in all, 16 treatment combinations (4 × 2 × 2) were laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. ForSeed soaking with 0.05M Fe-EDTA solution for 12 h prior to sowing was effective in alleviating Fe deficiency in aerobically-grown rice on the calcareous soil. Dry matter yield response of IR-64 was 10, 11 and 28% due to seed treatment with 0.25M, 0.5M FeSO4.7H2O and 0.05M Fe-EDTA respectively, over control.