Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

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Improved Seed Storage Technique in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cv. G7 in Coastal Environment

T. Ramanadane1,*, R. Gnanasekar1, G. Hemalatha1, A. Kamatchi1, D. Kartic1
1Seed Technology Research Unit, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute, Karaikal-609 606, Puducherry(UT), India.

ABSTRACT

Background: Non-availability of good quality seeds at the right time is a major problem faced by groundnut growers. Groundnut seeds lose their viability quickly due to several biotic and abiotic factors during storage. Seed moisture content, storage temperature and relative humidity are three major factors affecting seed storability in coastal environments. Generally, groundnut seeds are stored as pods in gunny bags. Those seeds lose their viability rapidly due to the moisture-pervious nature of the container. Vacuum storage techniques may help in protecting the seed quality from the external environment in coastal areas.

Methods: With this background, the experiment was conducted with two major objectives, to prolong the seed storability of groundnut and to reduce storage volume by using the kernel storage method in the place of pod storage. Each 20 kilograms of freshly harvested pods and 10 kilograms of kernels of Groundnut cv. G7 were treated with double spectrum fungicide (Carboxin 37.5% + Thiram 37.5%) and stored in three different containers viz., Gunny bag, High-Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) bag and Super grain bag comprising a total of 12 treatments and those were tested at bimonthly intervals to assess the quality.

Result: The results shown that all the seed quality traits were differed significantly with duration of storage, storage container, method of storage and seed treatment. Irrespective of containers, untreated kernels lose their viability within a month of storage. Further, treated and untreated pods and kernels stored in gunny bags failed to fulfill the minimum germination standards (70%) after three months of storage. However, the kernels treated with fungicide and stored in HDPE or Super grain bags fulfilled minimum germination standards even after 11 months of storage. Hence, groundnut kernels treated with fungicide may be safely stored in Super grain bags or HDPE bags with reduced volume of storage as compared to pod storage. Accordingly, kernel storage in groundnut is possible if kernels pre-treated with double spectrum fungicide (Carboxin 37.5% + Thiram 37.5%) and stored in super grain bags or HDPE bags. Thus, the results have a high degree of practical utility for groundnut farmers and seed growers.

INTRODUCTION

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), commonly known as peanut, is a self-pollinating crop belonging to the family Fabaceae. It is one of the most popular and important legumes, food and oilseed crops used for humans and livestock, which ranked 4th important oilseed crop and 14th food crop in the world. Non-availability of good quality seeds at the right time is a major problem met by the groundnut growers. In addition, they are also facing difficulties while storing seeds because seed storability affected by several biotic and abiotic factors. Being an oil seed crop, groundnut seed suffers from many pathogens as compared to starchy seeds, which lead to quick deterioration during storage. Poor post-harvest handling and storage conditions lead to the quick development of fungi in the seeds. Seed storage under coastal environments is a critical aspect of maintaining seed viability and longevity. Out of several factors affecting the seeds in storage, seed moisture, relative humidity and storage temperature are the most important (Agrawal, 1976). These two environmental factors are always high in the coastal areas and beyond the control of seed suppliers or farmers. Karaikal region, where the experiment was conducted comes under the Eleventh Agro Climatic Zone of India under Fifteen All India Agro Climatic Zonal Classification by Planning Commission of India  and it is classified as PC2 - Coastal deltaic alluvial plain zone. Karaikal has a tropical climate with a mean maximum and minimum  temperature of 32.9°C and 24.2°C, respectively (Mean of 27 years; 1996 to 2023). The mean annual total rainfall is 1398.6 mm. The total annual evaporation is 1942.2 mm. The mean annual morning and evening relative humidity are 87.4% and 63.9%, respectively. Hence, storing the groundnut seeds from harvest to the next sowing season with the required vigour and viability is a huge challenge in successful seed production. Fungicide seed treatment has been broadly practiced as cheap insurance against seed and soil-borne pathogens in legume-producing areas (Getachew and Abeble, 2021) and played a significant role in inhibiting storage fungi and this might be attributed to minimal coat damage to peanut seeds (El-Deriny et al., 2018).

Groundnut pods are normally stored in gunny bags and those seeds deteriorate rapidly because of the moisture pervious nature of the container, therefore vacuum packaging may be engaged to rectify the same problem. Vacuum storage increases storability or shelf life by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms and improves hygiene by reducing the danger of cross-contamination. The Grain Pro Super bag (Introduced by Grain Pro Agro Pvt. Ltd, Israel is a multilayered polythene bag consisting of inert gas in between two layers) exploited for safe storage of seeds / dry grains of several crops. Rice seeds stored in Super grain bags maintain their viability for up to 12 months under ambient conditions (Rickman, 2004). After being dried to the optimum moisture content (£ 9%), seeds are packed in vacuum storage to reduce the respiration of seed, infection and infestation, which minimizes the deterioration rate, whereas the seeds stored with higher-moisture content will result in mould attack, lose seed viability and death of the seed (Meena et al., 2017). Groundnut kernel storage is not practiced because, when it is stored as kernels in gunny bags, the high moisture content, relative humidity and temperature in the storage atmosphere triggers insect infestation and pathogen infection results in quick deterioration of seeds. Kernels packed air-tightly and sealed in vacuum storage containers may restrict the influence of the storage environment, increase the efficacy of the seed treatment and also reduce the storage volume in groundnut seed storage. With this information, the experiment was conducted to study the effect of seed treatment and packaging material on prolonging the seed storability of groundnut and also to study the effect of the kernel storage method on reducing the storage volume in groundnut.
 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Freshly harvested pods of groundnut cv. G7 were dried to below 8% kernel moisture content. Sufficient quantities of pods were decorticated and the kernels were graded with a spiral separator followed by manual grading. Each 20 kilograms of pods and 10 kilograms of kernels of groundnut cv. G7 were treated with double spectrum fungicide (Carboxin 37.5% + Thiram 37.5%) @ 2g kg-1 of seeds. Untreated and treated pods and kernels were stored in three different containers viz., Gunny bag, High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) and Super grain bag formed the 12 treatments and evaluated for their performance in storage (Fig 1).

Fig 1: Flow chart on materials and methods used in the experiment.



Seed samples were taken in each container at bimonthly intervals and tested for seed moisture content, germination, seedling length, seedling dry weight, vigour index and seed infection at Seed Technology Research Laboratory of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute (PAJANCOA and RI), Karaikal, Puducherry (UT), India during 2021-22. Seed moisture content was measured on DICKEY-John |GAC® 500 XT digital moisture meter and expressed in percentage. The germination test was carried out with the sand method prescribed by the International Seed Testing Association (Anonymous, 2016) and observations on shoot length, root length and seedling dry weight were recorded. The seedling vigour indices I and II were computed as per the procedure prescribed by Abdul-Baki and Anderson (1973). The standard blotter method was used to determine the pathogen infection (Anonymous, 2016) of groundnut seeds. The data were statistically analysed using a Factorial Completely Randomized Design by adopting the procedure described by Panse and Sukatme (1978).
 
 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Seed moisture content

Maintaining the seed in good physical and physiological condition from harvest time to the next planting season is the most important role of seed storage. The biological activity in the seeds had enhanced due to higher moisture content and also causes excessive heating; further promoting insect activities and mould growth. Hence, in highly humid areas like coastal environments, consideration should be given to the type of storage container which can protect the seed from atmospheric moisture (relative humidity of air) during storage. Reliable packaging materials,  relative humidity (RH), temperature and seed moisture content (SMC) highly influence the seed longevity in storage (McDonald, 1999; Murdock et al.,2012;href="#bakhtavar_2019">Bakhtavar et al., 2019b) but seed SMC is one of the most important factors that affect seed quality in storage (Bradford et al.,2018). Bewley et al.(2013) pointed out that high moisture content during storage as a greatest risk for seed quality. In the present study, seed being highly hygroscopic, moisture content was increased with storage period irrespective of containers used; however, significantly differed with types of containers (Table 1).

Table 1: Effect of type of storage, container and seed treatment on seed moisture content in Groundnut cv. G7 under ambient storage condition.



The rate of increase was significantly higher in gunny bags followed by HDPE bags and Super grain bags. A gain in seed moisture content of 1.8%, 1.1% and 0.4% was observed in gunny bags, HDPE bags and Super grain bags, respectively after 11 months of storage. Seeds stored in Super grain bags recorded the least moisture content throughout the storage period as compared to HDPE bags and gunny bags; this might be due to the sensitivity of the container to absorbing moisture from the external environment. The moisture content of seeds fluctuates more in moisture-pervious containers than in moisture vapour-proof containers (Meena et al., 2017). Ramanadane and Rettinassababady (2008) reported that the seed deterioration rate in rice was higher at high moisture levels and storability differed with the type of storage container. Under humid environment, avoid practicing seed storage in cloth bag as equilibrium seed moisture content increases, which promotes seed deterioration (Afzal et al., 2019). The increase in value of the moisture content increased the breakdown of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins, because of accelerated metabolism and finally decreased the wheat quality (Ruska and Timar, 2010). Microbial activities also grow with increasing the values of moisture content and increase the losses of quality (Ruska and Timar, 2010). These results are in consistent with the findings of Akter and Hossain (2015). 

Seed germination

Germination is the most important function of a seed as an indicator of its viability and worth as a seed (href="#akter_2014">Akter et al., 2014). Germination testing is an essential tool used to assess seed viability and to predict the field performance of a seed lot. Low germination is the very first sign of seed deterioration after storage and ultimately describes loss of seed vigour and viability (href="#afzal_2017">Afzal et al., 2017). Maintaining seed viability is not easy for every crop. Compared to cereals, oilseeds lose viability very fast; therefore, pest and disease-free and optimum storage condition is needed to retain their viability for a longer period. To create that optimum condition, seed treatment and selection of good storage containers are mandatory. In the present investigation, regardless of containers, seed germination decreased during storage. Besides, seeds stored in gunny bags completely lost their viability at 7th month of storage (Fig 2).

Fig 2: Seed germination (%) in groundnut in sand method after seven months of storage under ambient condition.



However, even after 11 months of storage, the seed germination as per Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards (70%) was maintained in treated kernels stored in Super grain bag (77.3%) or in HDPE bag (73.3%) (Table 2;  Fig 3).

Table 2: Effect of type of storage, container and seed treatment on seed germination in Groundnut cv. G7 under ambient storage condition.


Fig 3: Seed germination (%) in groundnut after 11 months of storage under ambient condition.




Thus, in the present study, hermetic storage maintained seed quality by lowering biochemical activities with emission of carbon dioxide with low MDA contents and high amount of total soluble sugars resulting in less damage due to natural ageing href="#irfan_2019">(Irfan et al., 2019). Sudini et al. (2015) also demonstrated that hermetic triple-layer bags are superior to cloth bags in protecting groundnut quality parameters such as germinability, oil content and seed weight. Super Bag is made up of multilayers of poly-ethylene having a less permeable barrier layer to prevent exchange of moisture and air and has very low vapor transmission rate whereas cloth bag is porous and could not resist fluctuations in ambient RH during storage conditions (href="#afzal_2017">Afzal et al., 2017). The ability of hermetic super bag to preserve germination in this study clearly supports the assumption that the implementation of dry chain concept resulted in better seed quality by restricting moisture gain (Bakhtavar et al., 2019a). Some success results can be deciphered from the literature about the use of hermetic bags for preservation of seed quality (Williams et al., 2014; Afzal et al., 2017; Bakhtavar et al., 2019a). Seeds stored in PICS bag and super grain bag retained the highest seed germination for a longer time (Khatri et al., 2019) than other tested seed storage materials. The poor storability of groundnut pods or kernels stored in gunny bags might be due to the moisture-pervious nature of the container in which the seeds had direct contact with the storage atmosphere, which has high temperature and relative humidity in coastal environment. It is also evident from the weather data collected from the AFMU of PAJANCOA and RI, Karaikal that the sum of Mean temperature in °F and mean RH in percentage was ranging between 147.88 to 168.12 (Table 3).

Table 3: Weather parameters prevailed during Groundnut seed storage in coastal environment (High humid region) at Karaikal, India.



Nevertheless, the third rule of Harrington Thump rule says that the sum of temperature in Fahrenheit and RH in percentage should not exceed 100 (Harrington, 1960). Thus, the coastal environment is unsafe for storage of seeds in moisture pervious containers like jute bags. Unprotected storage or improper storage of groundnut in jute bags can lead to reduced germination (Basave Gowda and Nanja Reddy, 2008). Begum et al. (2013) also reported that the high temperature and RH along with unscientific storage conditions adversely affect the seed quality. Further, untreated kernels failed to fulfill the minimum germination standards (70%) even for one month of storage probably due to high pathogenic infection as evidenced also in seed health tests (Table 4).El-Deriny et al. (2018) also opined that Vitavax treatment appeared to be safer to protect peanut seeds during storage. 

Table 4: Effect of type of storage, container and seed treatment on seedling length (cm) in Groundnut cv. G7 under ambient storage condition.



Seed vigour

The seedling length has been considered as an efficient trait to identify the physiological potential differences in seed lots. Seed vigour testing is used as an indicator of the storage potential of a seed lot and in ranking various seed lots with different qualities. Generally, seeds start losing vigour before they lose their germination. Hence, vigor testingxs an important tool that is used to identify the superior quality seed. Seed ageing results in reduced seedling growth and this is a consequence of the decline in weight of mobilized seed reserves (Smayli Rana and Biradarpatil, 2018). When deterioration started in stored seeds, a sequence of events began with a chain of biochemical events, predominantly membrane damage and impairment of biosynthetic reactions (Biabani et al., 2011) and then the resulting losses of various seed performance attributes, starting with reduced germination rate, reduction in vigor, more lipid peroxidation and finally seed death (Walters et al., 2010). In the present investigation, maximum seedling length, dry weight of seedlings and vigour indices I and II were registered in treated kernels stored in super grain bags (25.61 cm; 3.50 g; 1981 and 271, respectively) followed by treated kernels stored in HDPE bags (22.83 cm; 3.15 g; 1674 and 232) and treated pods stored in super grain bag (22.20 cm; 3.11 g; 1421 and 199) after 11 months of storage and thus proved the necessity of fungicidal seed treatment as well as selection of moisture vapour proof storage containers for safe storage of groundnut seeds (Table 4-7).

Table 5: Effect of type of storage, container and seed treatment on dry weight of seedlings (g/10 seedlings) in Groundnut cv. G7 under ambient storage condition.


Table 6: Effect of type of storage, container and seed treatment on seedling vigour index I in Groundnut cv. G7 under ambient storage condition.


Table 7: Effect of type of storage, container and seed treatment on seedling vigour index II in Groundnut cv. G7 under ambient storage condition.



Similar findings were earlier reported by Akter et al. (2014) in soybean who reported that storage containers had a significant effect on root and shoot length; which decreased with the increase in storage period. 

Seed health

Seed health is a major concern in any seed production programme next to the vigour and viability of seeds. Seed-borne fungi not only affect the germination and vigour of the seedling, it also acts as a source of inoculums for the disease development in the field. Hence, early finding of seed fungi is an essential activity to preserve high-quality seeds and to prevent pathogen distribution. In the present study, significantly lower seed infection was observed in treated kernels stored in super grain bags (43.3%) followed by treated kernels stored in HDPE bags (86.7%) as compared to 100% seed infection in other treatments after 11 months of storage (Table 8),

Table 8: Effect of type of storage, container and seed treatment on seed infection (%) in Groundnut cv. G7 under ambient storage condition.



since super grain bags and HDPE containers restrict moisture from the external environment, resulting in lower seed moisture content, leading to low respiration, metabolic activities and infection. These results are in confirming with the earlier reports by El-Deriny et al., (2018).

CONCLUSION

Groundnut kernels treated with fungicide may be safely stored in Super grain bags or HDPE bags with reduced volume of storage as compared to pod storage. Accordingly, kernel storage in groundnut is possible if kernels are pre-treated with double spectrum fungicide and stored in super grain bags or HDPE bags. A similar study with more groundnut varieties needs to be undertaken for confirmation.
 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance extended by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau for experimenting.
 

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
 

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