Standardization of the Appropriate Doses of GA3 and Ag-Nanoparticle in Green Gram for Quality Seed Production

The mung bean (Vigna radiata L.)is a food legume mainly grown in South and South-East Asia commonly known as green gram is an economically important crop belonging to the family Fabaceae. The crop is known to be first originated and domesticated in India several thousand years ago and then spread to China and other parts of South-East Asia (Vavilov. 1926). This crop can be grown successfully in extreme environmental conditions like low rain fall, high temperatures, and poor soils with few economic inputs. Nair et al., 2013 reported that mung bean seeds are a rich source of high quality protein (24%), carbohydrates (63%), iron (0.03-0.06 mg g-1) and zinc (0.02-0.04 mg g-1). Despite various good qualities of mungbean, the global average productivity is staggeringly low at 0.5 t ha-1 which is far below than the estimated yield potential, i.e. 2.5-3.0 t ha-1 of the crop (Nair et al., 2019). India grows 65% (3.0 million ha) of total mungbean acreage and provides 54% (1.5 million tonnes) of the global production (AICRP on MULLaRP: http://www.aicrpmullarp.res.in/crop_profile.html).

The growth in the human population has outpaced the production of pulses in the country which has led to gradual decrease in per capita pulse consumption. Seed priming prior to sowing is a promising strategy to provide value-added solutions that enhance the yield and quality potential of high-value crops. Priming instigates an increase in the activity of enzymes such as amylases, proteases, and lipases that breakdown macromolecules for growth and development of the embryo. Priming also reduces stress at the germination stage and ultimately results in higher rates of seedling emergence and successful seedling establishment. These biological consequences ultimately benefit farmers because it reduces the time, expense of re-seeding, additional irrigation, fertilization, and weed management on weak plants. Several chemicals including synthetic plant hormones have been used for seed priming. Plant hormones are vital members of the signal cascade complicated in the induction of plant stress responses. Moreover in recent years, nanotechnology has emerged as an advanced seed priming technology for smart agriculture. Important and unique aspects of nanoparticles, such as their surface to mass ratio, which is much greater than that of other particles and materials, allows them to efficiently increase catalysis, as well as to adsorb and deliver substances of interest. Nanoparticles derived from metals or their compounds have been evolved and utilized as carriers for biological systems. In this study, the effect of priming with a plant growth regulator (GA ) and silver 3 nanoparticles on seed germination and early seedling growth has been demonstrated. Application of Gibberellic Acid (GA ) 3 has been reported to increase germination percentage and seedling growth of crop plants under salt stress (Tsegay and Andargie, 2018, Biswas et al., 2020a). GAwas found to influence the spikelet fertility and seed yield significantly (Biswas 3 et al., 2020b). The influence of GAhas been found to enhance seed yield plant-1and all the seed yield attribute characters. 3 (Ray and Bordolui, 2020). Consequently, nano-priming enhances the rate of emergence and subsequent growth, yield, and quality of the crop. Recent studies have reported that a plant’sresponse to Ag-nanoparticles, enhancement or inhibition of growth, depends on the Ag-nanoparticle dosage. Exposure to specific concentrations of Ag-nanoparticles could enhance plant growth compared with non-exposed plants, whereas higher and lower concentrations could affect plant growth negatively. Objective of this study was to standardize the appropriate doses of Ag-nanoparticle and GAfor quality seed 3 production of green gram.