Effect of seed treatments on drought tolerance, growth, yield and biochemical responses of rice under varying moisture regimes

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, during late rabi 2024 to study the effect of seed treatments on drought stress management and their impact on growth, yield and biochemical characteristics. The treatments consisted of seven seed treatments, viz., S₁-designer seed, S₂-Piriformospora indica at 10 mL kg-1 of seed, S₃-plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) mix-1 at 50 g kg-1 of seed, S₄-proline at 0.1 %, S₅-calcium chloride (CaCl₂) at 2 %, S₆-hydro priming and S₇-control (without seed treatment), along with three moisture stress levels, viz., I₁-50 % field capacity (FC) at all growth stages, I₂-stress at maximum tillering (MT) and panicle initiation (PI) stages and I₃-no moisture stress. Seed treatments had a significant influence on growth, yield and biochemical parameters under different moisture levels. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria seed treatment recorded a significantly higher grain yield(29.2 g plant-1) under 50 % FC and under moisture stress at MT and PI stages (21.4 g plant-1). Seed treatment with PGPR and CaCl₂ resulted in higher yield compared to the control treatment without seed treatment. Thus, seed treatments were found to be effective in mitigating drought stress and improving crop yield.