Seed Pelleting Effects on Seed Quality Parameters in Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter]

Abstract

Seed of tef is very tiny in size, making the sowing of the crop more challenging. Seed pelleting increases and homogenizes seed size, important for proper seed handling, uniform planting as well as suitable for mechanical planters. An experiment was conducted in a seed quality laboratory of Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center, which consisted of a factorial combination of three levels of pelleting [small size or 12 times the naked seed (2-2.4mm), medium size or 20 times the naked seed (2.4-3mm) and large size or 40 times the naked seed (3mm and above)] along with un-pelleted (naked) seed and three tef varieties (Dagim, Boset and Felagot) arranged in CRD with four replications. The results revealed that pelleting size showed highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) effect for all the traits except for shoot and root length and similarly effect of varieties were highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) for most of the traits.  But the interaction effect showed significant effect on vigour index I, speed of germination and seedling shoot length. In generally enhanced germination and early vigour were recorded from medium sized pellets (2.4-3mm) and variety Dagim was relatively better than the other varieties in terms of seed quality parameters. However the study was carried out on limited pelleting material and varieties targeting to increase only seed size. Thus supplementing of pelleting material with growth promoter, pesticide and nutrition were need to be investigated in the future.