Combined effect of hydro priming and root pruning on plant dry matter of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) seedlings

Combined effect of hydro priming and root pruning on plant dry matter of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) seedlings
Ahmadu Onyinoyi. Martha, Ezewammadu Vincent Uchenna, Augustine Uche Emmanuel, Mohammed Sani Abdullahi 
National Biotechnology Development Agency, Bioresources Development Centre, Odi, PMB 170, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
martha_ahmadu@yahoo.com, urchmanvinno@yahoo.com, austinemmanueluche@yahoo.com, san4fat@yahoo.com 
IJBSAT (2020), 11(1):1-7

Abstract
This study was conducted as completely randomized design with three replications on plant dry matter of tomato seedling at Bioresources Development Centre, Odi, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The factor of study included different time hydro priming (control, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96h) and afterwards roots were pruned 25 DAS (rps 1/3-25 DAS and 2/3-25 DAS) and 32 DAS seedlings (rps 1/3-22 DAS and 2/3-32 DAS). The characters measured were: total plant dry matter, dry leaf weight, dry stem weight, dry root weight and root: shoot ratio of mean, min, max and CV. The results showed that hydropriming and root pruning significantly affected the growth of tomato seedlings. The total plant dry matter (W) of non root pruned seedlings for all primed seeds was significantly higher compared with primed seed with root pruned. The highest average dry matter (1.15g and 1.17g) was obtained from seeds primed for 96h (rps 1/3-25DAS and nps 32 DAS respectively) while the lowest average dry matter (0.37g and 0.34g) was obtained from seeds primed for 96h (rps 2/3-25 DAS and same 96h rps 2/3-32 DAS respectively). Mean comparison of root-shoot ratio pruned for 96hrs (rps 2/3-25DAS) and 72hrs (rps 2/3-32 DAS) showed the highest and lowest mean ratio respectively. Leaf and stem weight of all primed seeds including control all exhibited significant variations irrespective of the severity of root pruning and days after sowing.  The results demonstrated that the interaction between the different hydropriming duration and root pruning of varying severity of tomato seedlings had significant effect on its plant dry matter.
Key words: Hydro priming, pruning, Seedling dry weight and Tomato.
URL:

https://www.ijbsat.org/papers-published/ijbsat-2020-volume-11-issue-1