Seed quality enhancement technique to improve the seedling vigour and establishment of ‘CO1’ bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.)

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is nowadays meant as a valuable vegetable among the diabetic patients because of its higher medicinal properties especially momorcidin which has antifungal and antibacterial properties. However, in bitter gourd field emergence is an issue for the poor adoptability on large scale. Hence, it is necessary to improve its rate of establishment, vigour and seedling performance through a supplementary nutrition technique like seed pelleting to get a uniform and vigourous field stand. In this background, an investigation was carried out to study the supplementary nutrition effects of the following botanicals namely the leaf powders of arappu, pungam, neem, notchi, moringa and prosopis and rhizome powders of turmeric and vasambu at150, 200 and 250 g kg(-1) of seeds. In order to know the added advantage of botanicals as pelleting materials in improving seed germination and seedling establishment to the finely powdered botanicals a 10% maida solution was added as an adhesive at 50 mL kg(-1) with an eccentric rotation of the container so that the powder will coat on the seeds uniformly. The results of the study clearly indicated the superiority of arappu followed by pungam as botanicals in comparison to other botanicals used. The arappu pelleted seeds 200 g kg(-1) facilitated uniform seedlings, increased chance of survival and resulted in the highest percentage of germination (73%).