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

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/550/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0014479710000608
 
Title Phosphorus coating on pearl millet seed in low P Alfisol improves plant establishment and increases stover more than seed yield
 
Creator Karanam, P V
Vadez, V
 
Subject Millets
Pearl Millet
Plant Physiology
 
Description 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.
 
Publisher Cambridge University Press
 
Date 2010
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/550/1/ExperimentalAgriculture46_4_457%E2%80%93469_2010.pdf
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.