Seed treatment in different crops

Crops get afflicted with pests and diseases at different stages of its growth by various kinds of microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, and others. We can prevent these attacks right from the seedling stage by following seed treatment practices before cultivation.

Different types of crops require different types of treatments.

1. Seed treatment for Paddy

Ingredients: Native chicken egg, salt, water and a container.

Procedure:

• Take 15 liters of water in a 40 liter capacity bucket.
• Immerse egg in the water to test its purity(not old egg). The egg should sink, it should not float.
• Add crystal salt to the water, stir well. Around one kg of salt is required.
• Add 15 kg of paddy to water and remove the chaffy seeds that float on water.
• Soak these seeds in salt water for 15 minutes and collect the treated seeds of paddy from the bottom of the bucket. Wash it with clean water 2 times and dry it under the shade.

Benefits:

• Eradication of seed borner diseases.
• Prevents seed rotting, damping off, Leaf spot diseases.

2. Seed treatment for Groundnut

Ingredients: Neem seeds, Agave strips, cow urine, water and a bucket.

Procedure:

• Pound the neem seeds well and extract juice by addition of water.
• Heat four to five agave strips at low flame and extract the juice by wringing.
• Mix the neem juice and agave juice in one liter of cow urine and soak it overnight.
• Add 10 liters of water to this extract next morning.
• Sprinkle this mixture on the groundnut seeds used for sowing and mix thoroughly with hands before sowing.

Benefits:

• It cab be used agaisnt diseases like seed rot, root rot, wilt and pests like ant and root grub.

3. Ragi seed treatment

Ingredients: Cow urine, water and a bucket.

Procedure:

• Collect cow urine in a bucket for about 15 days.
• Add 10 liters of water to one liter of cow urine and mix well.
• Add 10 kgs of ragi seeds to the mixture and stir well.
• Soak the ragi seeds in this mixture for half an hour and discard the chaffy seeds and dust particles that float on the solution. take out the soaked seeds and dry it in shade.
• Now the seeds are ready for cultivation.

Benefits:

The treatment controls many types of pests and diseases that attack the roots, leaves and the crops.

4. Maize and Millets treatment

Ingredients: Milk asafetida(not the cooking asafetida) water and a bucket.

Procedure:

• Add 100 gm of milk , asafetida to 10 liters of water and prepare a solution.
• Add 6 to 8 kg of maize seeds to this solution and soak it for 15 minutes.
• Similarly add 3 kg of millets to this solution and soak it for 15 minutes.
• Remove the half filled immature seeds and dry them under shade.

Benefits:

• The treatment controls diseases that attack the maize and millet crops.
• Remaining asafetida solution can be used for vegetable plants so that the deflowering is reduced and the yield of vegetables is high.

5. Bio-Fertilizer seed treatment to control pests and diseases

Required: Biofertilizers like Trichoderma and Pseudomonas, Jaggery, water, and container.

Procedure:

• Add 100 gm Jaggery to 1 liter water in a container and prepare a jaggery paste by heating it on low flame for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Cool the solutionand add the biofertilizer into this jaggery paste at 4 gm of Trichoderma and 4 gm of Pseudomonas to 1 kg of seeds.
• Add the seeds to be treated into this container and mix well so that the biofertilizer is smeared properly over the seeds.
• These seeds are dreid under shade and used for sowing.
• All type of vegetable seeds, fruit crops and food crops can be treated using biofertilizers.

6. Seed treatment using Milk

This is one of the seed treatment usually done to rejuvenate all type seeds(food crops, pulses, vegetables, oilseeds) that are stored for about 2 to 3 years.

Ingredients: Milk water and container.

Procedure:

• 200 ml milk is added to one liter water in a container.
• Pour approximately 2 kg of seeds into this mixture and soak it for about 15 to 30 minutes.
• Remove the seeds and dry them under shade before sowing.