A New Approach of Electric Field Adoption for Germination Improvement

Waman Ziblaji Gandhare^1*, Mamta Samir Patwardhan²

¹Government College of Engineering, Amravati, Maharashtra state, India.
²Department of FSRE, Dr. A. S. College of Agricultural Engineering, MPKV, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra state, India.

DOI: 10.4236/jpee.2014.24003                

Abstract

Enhancement of tomato seed germination is one of the most important factors for developing a supply chain of increased demand. Tomato is one of the important cash crops in the world. To fulfill increased requirement, electric field adoption is the best alternative. The study was undertaken at MPKV, Rahuri for improvement in tomato seed germination. Three different approaches were utilized as electrostatic field, microwave and corona discharge method to treat tomato seeds. The comparative analysis revealed that adoption of electrostatic field application was simple as well as powerful method with significantly positive results. In electrostatic field, the optimal dosage was 2 kV/mm for 20 second interval to improve germination, root shoot length and seed vigor.

Keywords

Electrostatic Field; Microwave Field; Corona Discharge Treatment; Germination

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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