QUALITY SEED PRODUCTION IN MAIZE VARIETIES
Land requirement
- Land should be free from volunteer plants. The previous crop should not be the same variety or other varieties of the same crop.
- It can be the same variety if it is certified as per the procedures of certification agency
Isolation
- For certified quality seed production leave a distance of 200 m all around the field from the same and other varieties of maize
Season
- November – February and June – September
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Land selection |
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Pre-sowing seed treatment
- Soak the seeds in 2 % KH2PO4 in the seed to solution ratio of 1:1 for 8 h (or)
- Biopriming with Pseudomonas fluorescens at 80 % concentration for 12 h. (80 g of Pseudomonas fluorescens in powder form mixed in 100 ml of water).
- For mine spoils, soak the seeds in 2 % KH2PO4 for 8 h and coat with pink polymer @ 3g/kg + carbendazim @ 2 g/ kg + imidachloprid @ 1 ml / kg + DAP 30 g / kg + micro nutrient mixture @ 20 g / kg + Azospirilum @ 60 g / kg
Spacing
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Spacing |
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Fertilizer requirement
- The crop requires NPK @ 150:75:75 kg ha-1. Apply NPK @ 40:75:40 kg ha-1 as basal, 50 kg of N at 20 days after sowing as first top dressing and 60:0:35 kg of NPK at 40 days after sowing as second top dressing
Foliar spray
- 0.5 % Nutrigold spray at silking and maturity stage (or)
- 2-3 % cowpea sprout extract at silking and maturity stage. (Preparation as in rice)
Preparation of pulse sprout extract
- Cowpea seeds were soaked overnight and incubated in a wet cloth for 12 h to enable sprouting. Later, 100 g of sprouts were ground in a mixer grinder by using ice cubes of 100 ml of water to prepare extracts of 100 per cent concentration. The ground material was squeezed through cloth bag to extract the sprout extract
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Harvest
- Harvest the cobs as once over harvest.
- Verify true to type cobs based on kernel and shank color (cob sorting) variation.
- Remove the diseased cobs and do not select for seed purpose
Shelling
- Shell the cobs either by beating with pliable bamboo stick or using maize sheller with required rpm at a seed moisture content of 15 – 18%.
- Improper shelling leads to pericarp injury up to 48% and will promote saprophytic
fungal growth.
- Estimate mechanical / pericarp injury through 20% FeCl3 test or using 0.25% Tetrazolium solution
Size grading
- Grade the seeds using 18/64” round perforated metal sieve
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Harvest |
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Seed treatment
- Slurry treat the seeds with carbendazim @ 2 g kg-1 of seed using 5ml of water kg-1 of seed.
- Dry dress the seeds with halogen mixture @ 3g kg-1 of seed (CaOCl2 + CaCO3 + arappu (Albizzia amara) leaf powder mixed in the ratio of 5:4:1) for grain cum seed storage
Storage
- Store the seeds in gunny or cloth bags for short term storage (8-9 months) with seed moisture content of 10-12 %.
- Store the seeds in polylined gunny bag for medium term storage (12- 15 months) with seed moisture content of 8 - 9 %.
- Store the seeds in 700 gauge polythene bag for long term storage (more than15 months) with seed moisture content of less than 8%
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Packing (Maize seeds) |
Source
The Professor and Head,
Department of Seed Science & Technology,
TNAU, Coimbatore-641003.
Phone:0422-6611363
Email: seed@tnau.ac.in
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