HARD SEEDEDNESS IN KHESARI (LATHYRUS SATIVUS) GERMPLASM

Abstract

Hardseededness is widely known in pulses and affects gennination counts in
field and laboratory conditions. The critical evaluation of hardseeds in 1,279
accesions of Lathyrus salivus indicated considerable variation for hardseed
percentage in the accessions tested. The role of environment in causing
hardseededness in this crop was also noted. Mechanical scarification with fine
sand paper proved to be an effective method of removing seed coat impenneability
to ensure the water uptake in order to record the actual germination percentage
of gennplasm accessions, which is a pre-requisite for their Iongtenn conservation
in the National Genebank.