Hot Water Seed Treatment: A Review

In present day agriculture, use of chemicals for crop production is discouraged. Hence, other alternative treatments for disease control must be developed, and hot water treatment is one of them. It is a feasible practice, both financially and time wise. Hot water soaking is a very age-old practice, efficient in destroying pathogens borne both outside the testa and inside the seed testa by using temperature hot enough to kill the organism but not quite hot enough to kill the seed. Extensive research work has been reported on hot water treatment in vegetables. Therefore, an attempt has been made to review the information available regarding the effect of hot water treatment on growth, disease incidence and yield of vegetables.