<div>Consistent agricultural production needs a package of methods starting from the improved crop varieties to agronomic practices to fulfil the food demand worldwide. Agricultural productivity is mainly restricted due to poor seed quality coupled with several biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore, enhancement of agricultural production through improved quality of seed needs additional practice to achieve sustainable growth of farm income. In this context, biopriming could serve as a viable approach to enhance crop productivity as it improves the performance of plants under sub-optimal conditions. In biopriming, the bacterial inoculum is used during the imbibition process that bypasses the need for hazardous agrochemicals linked with crop management practices. The use of microbial solution on the planting material is an economically and environmentally safe method for uniform crop establishment. Alongside biotic stress amelioration, biopriming also serves as a viable solution to enhance the nutrient use efficiency in crop plants. Overall, the introduction of biopriming in agricultural practices allows farmers to achieve better production with a minimum investment of costly inputs.</div>

Seed Quality Enhancement Through Seed Biopriming to Increase Productivity: A Review

<div>Background: Chickpea is the largest produced food legume in South Asia. It is mainly grown in dry or rainfed area, where patchy plant stand often results due to delayed and non-uniform emergence. Moreover, genotypes vary for seed germination and seedling vigour. Therefore, the study was undertaken to find most appropriate seed treatment for enhancement of planting value of desi and kabuli type chickpeas.&nbsp; 
 
Methods:&nbsp;Study was conducted at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi with fresh, 2 and 4 years stored seed lots of desi (Pusa 2028) and kabuli (Pusa 1108) varieties. The lots were compared with untreated (control) for quality and vigour parameters after giving seed enhancement treatments (SET); osmopriming, halopriming, solid matrix priming (SMP), thiram and neem khali. 
 
Result:&nbsp;Investigations revealed that SMP and thiram seed treatments significantly enhanced germination and field performance of fresh as well as aged seeds in these varieties. Effectiveness of treatments was found more pronounced in kabuli than desi type and thus confirmed the usefulness of SETs for poor vigour seeds. Results also showed that seed quality and vigour of both the types were significantly affected with time in storage. However, desi variety maintained satisfactory germination and field performance up to 2 years under ambient conditions of storage.</div>

Seed Quality Enhancement for Improving Planting Value of Fresh and Aged Seed Lots of Chickpea

<div>Plant bio-regulators (PBRs) are hormone-like natural or synthetic compounds that are able to increase the yields, alter growth patterns, nutritional qualities and provide resistance to various kinds of stresses (cold, heat, drought, insect, diseases, salinity) when applied at very low concentration to the plants. PBRs are known to enhance source-sink relationship and help in stimulating the photosyntheates thereby reduce flower drop, helps in fruit and seed development in better way ultimately improving the yield of the crops. Nowadays, abiotic stresses are major factors limiting crop productivity and sustainability throughout the globe. Bio-regulators application on crops induces long-term thermo tolerance (heat and cold) in plants as these can modulate plant responses to stresses at the cellular, tissue or organ level and hence are able to enhance the yield, quality and nutritional aspects of the food and forage legumes in the changing climatic scenario. Application of bio-regulators on crops is farmer friendly, convenient and effective approach for improving the productivity and quality of legume crops. The influence of some of the important plant bioregulators on growth, yield, quality and stress management in important food and forage legume crops are reviewed in this article.</div>

<div>Plant Bio-regulators for Enhancing Grain Yield and Quality of Legumes: A Review</div>

<div>Background: Humic acid is a natural bio-stimulant, which has a major influence on growth and crop quality. Also, Magnetic water treatment enhances both crop productivity and quality, which leads to the efficient use of cultivated land by using water resources available for crop production. This study aims to determine the effects of magnetized water irrigation and application of humic acid with different concentrations as a bio-stimulation on tomato plants, Solanum Lycopersicon cv. Hybrid &ldquo;86&rdquo;. 
 
Methods: The experiment was conducted during the tow growing seasons of 2018 and 2019 at the Agricultural Experimental Station Farm at Abies region, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Egypt. The experiment design was split-plot with three replications. Two irrigation water treatments (magnetized and non-magnetic water) were arranged in the main plots and four concentrations of humic acid (0, 1, 2 and 3 g L-1) were distributed over sub-plots. 
 
Result: The results showed that irrigation with magnetized water had a positive effect on the vegetative growth traits, yield and its components and the quality of tomato fruits parameters. There was also a clear desirable effect of humic acid addition with different concentrations, as the results indicated that the use of the highest concentration of humic acid (3 g L-1) reflected the highest values for all the studied traits. The results of the interaction between irrigation with magnetized water and application of humic acid showed that the best results and the highest values for all studied characters were recorded when using magnetic water (MW) combined with 3 g L-1 of humic acid (HA), without significant differences from the interaction treatment MW combined with 2 g L-1 HA for most traits. However, the two treatments combinations MW with 2 g L-1 HA and Non-MW with 3 g L-1 HA didn&rsquo;t significant differ from each other for all studied characters at the two growing seasons. These results indicated that using the magnetic water with humic acid led to the possibility of reducing the amount of humic acid by one-third and enhances both crop productivity and quality of tomato plants. Generally, we can recommend using magnetized water irrigation with humic acid addition at concentration of 3.g L-1 or 2.g L-1 to enhance the productivity and quality of the tomato plant.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Enhancing the Productivity and Quality of Tomato using Magnetized Water and Humic Acid as Bio-stimulant Agents</div>

Growth and development of huge livestock population of Kachchh is dependent on availability of quality fodder. The quality fodder shortage can be partially met out by cultivating grasses-legumes in intercropping systems. Therefore, this study with the aim of identifying best grass-legume intercropping system for enhanced quality fodder production was undertaken in randomized complete block design with three replications at Bhuj Gujarat, India. Dicanthium annulatum in combination of Clitoria ternatia and Stylosanthes hamata recorded 8096 and 8040 kg ha-1 fresh herbage and 4665 and 4622 kg ha-1 dry matter yield, respectively. Further, Dicanthium annulatum+Clitoria ternatia and Dicanthium annulatum+Stylosanthes hamata resulted significantly maximum crude protein yield, 685 and 668 kg ha-1, respectively over rest of the treatments. Thus, it may be concluded that &nbsp;Dicanthium annulatum (DA) grass based intercropping systems are the best grass-legume intercropping system for enhanced quality fodder production for the arid condition of the Kachchh for overall development of livestock sector.&nbsp;

Enhanced quality fodder production through grass-legume intercropping under arid eco-system of Kachchh, Gujarat

<div>Background: Post-harvest losses in Carica papaya are attributed to multiple factors, including suboptimal harvesting practices, improper handling, inadequate storage conditions, inefficient packaging and transportation and the incidence of post-harvest pathogens. The implementation of effective post-harvest management strategies is essential to mitigate these losses, thereby enhancing fruit quality, ensuring nutritional availability and improving economic returns for producers. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: The research was undertaken at the Department of Post-harvest Technology to investigate the post-harvest interventions to enhance the shelf life and quality of papaya. The harvested red lady papaya fruits went through various postharvest treatments: T1-Hexanol (1%), T2-Hexanol (2%), T3-Chitosan (1%), T4-Chitosan (2%), T5-Salicylic acid (1 mm), T6-Salicylic acid (2 mm), T7-Potassium schoenite (1%), T8-Potassium schoenite (2%), T9-Control. They were stored in corrugated fibreboard boxes with 5 per cent ventilation at room temperature and periodically analyzed for physiological and biochemical parameters until the end of shelf life.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Result: In the study, post-harvest application of 2 mm salicylic acid significantly modulated the physiological and biochemical responses of Carica papaya (L.), reducing weight loss and respiration rate while enhancing TSS, reducing, non-reducing sugar content and ascorbic acid levels. Despite temporal variation across storage intervals, this treatment consistently delayed ripening and extending the shelf life to approximately 15.98 days and preserving overall fruit quality of papaya fruits.</div>

Innovative Post-harvest Treatments to Enhance the Shelf-life and Quality of Carica papaya

&nbsp;A field experiment was conducted at Forage Research and Management Centre, NDRI, Karnal during Kharif season of 2014 and 2015 to study the effect of zinc application on productivity and quality of fodder maize. The treatment consists of two fodder maize cultivars African tall and J-1006 in main plot and six zinc sulphate treatments viz. No zinc sulphate, 10 kg/ha &nbsp;ZnSO4 as basal dose, 20 kg/ha &nbsp;ZnSO4 as basal dose, 0.5% &nbsp;one foliar spray &nbsp;of ZnSO4 at 30 DAS, 0.5% &nbsp;two foliar spray of ZnSO4 at 30 and 45 DAS and 10 kg/ha &nbsp;ZnSO4 as basal dose+0.5% &nbsp;one foliar spray at 30 DAS in subplots of split plot design. Soil and foliar applied zinc sulphate had significantly improved green fodder, dry matter yield and quality parameters viz leaf length, leaf width, leaf stem ratio of both the cultivars tested. From the results of two year study, it can be concluded that maize fodder productivity and quality can be enhanced with Zinc fertilization.

Enhancing productivity and quality of fodder maize&nbsp;through soil and foliar zinc nutrition&nbsp;

<div>Background: The average productivity of chickpea is quite low (939 kg/ha) because of several factors including its cultivation in rain fed/low moisture and marginal lands, low seed replacement rate (25.4%), use of old and low-quality seed by the majority of farmers. This in turn gives poor germination, delayed emergence and sick seedlings that lead to poor yield. Osmo priming of seed with different in-organic salts has been reported to improve the germination, speed of emergence, seedling vigour, growth and yield of different vegetable and field crops but information&rsquo;s on response of seed priming with in-organic salts on enhancement of seed quality parameters and crop performance of naturally aged seeds of chickpea is lacking over a wide range of environmental conditions including normal and water deficit conditions. 
 
Methods: An experiment was conducted under laboratory as well as in plastic pots with 05 seed osmo- priming level, two varieties of chickpea (Ujjawal and JG-14) and two moisture level (Normal at field capacity and water deficit at half of the field capacity) during rabi season 2017-18 and 2018-19.at the Research farm of ICAR- IIPR Kanpur (U.P.) to study the influence of seed osmo-priming with in- organic salts on seed quality parameters and crop performance under normal and water deficit conditions. The observations were recorded on seed quality, growth and crop efficiency parameters at their appropriate time. 
 
Result: Osmo-priming of one-year-old chickpea seeds with KNO3, MgSO4, Ca(NO3)2 at 0.2% solution and tap water for 06 hours significantly enhanced the seed quality parameters in both the varieties evaluated under normal as well as under water deficit conditions over their respective control. Amongst, the priming agents used, KNO3 performed better than MgSO4, Ca(NO3)2 and tap water in respect of most of the seed quality parameters studied. Variety Ujjawal responded better the priming treatments than JG-14 under both normal and water deficit conditions. Osmo-priming treatments also showed the positive response in the enhancement of Nitrogen balance index (NBI), chlorophyll, Flavonols, Stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate in both the varieties evaluated under normal as well as water deficit condition.</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">Seed Osmo-priming in Chickpea Enhances Seed Quality and Crop Performance under Normal and Water Deficit Conditions</div>

Background: Maize (Zea mays L.) is a staple crop widely cultivated around the world, playing a crucial role in global food security. However, the sustained productivity of maize is threatened by declining soil health and quality due to intensive farming practices and improper nutrient management. Integrated nutrient&nbsp;management (INM) is a judicious use of organic and inorganic&nbsp;sources of nutrient to crop fields for sustaining and maintaining&nbsp;soil productivity. However, the use of appropriate and conjunctive&nbsp;use of application of suitable nutrients through organic and&nbsp;inorganic solely or in combination can provide the solutions to the&nbsp;problems such as increase in the price of inorganic fertilizers and&nbsp;deterioration effect of soil fertility and productivity. Hence, judicious&nbsp;application of these combinations can sustain the soil fertility and productivity. 
 
Methods: A field experiment comprising of 12 treatments was carried out in the kharif season of 2022 at the research farm of the Department of Agronomy, School of Agriculture, LPU, Phagwara. Aim of this research was to optimize nutrient availability and enhance soil fertility. Addressing these challenges, the present investigation entitled, enhancing physio chemical properties and nutrient content of maize through integrated nutrient management. 
 
Result: Application of 100% RDN+ mixed biofertilizers + FYM+ 1% spray of ZnSO4&nbsp;+ resulted in showed the highest protein content (10.15%), starch content (60.4%) and ash content (1.19%) in maize grains, followed by 75% RDN + Mixed Biofertilizers + FYM + 1% spray ZnSO4&nbsp;and T11. Additionally, T12&nbsp;showed the highest available zinc status in the soil with 1.5 kg/ha and the highest available zinc content in grains and straw after harvest with 325.6 mg/kg and 27.3 mg/kg, respectively. These findings highlight the importance of combining various nutrient sources to optimize maize growth and enhance its productivity. 
&nbsp;

Enhancing Physiochemical Properties and Quality of Maize Through Integrated Nutrient Management

Background: Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), a vital cool-season legume, faces challenges in seed storage due to environmental factors affecting biochemical stability.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: This study assessed the response of eight chickpea genotypes to different storage containers and environmental conditions over twelve months. Seeds were stored under ambient and refrigerated conditions in six types of containers and key biochemical parameters-protein content, carbohydrate content and electrical conductivity-were evaluated.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Digvijay (V5) and ICCV-191611 (V8) exhibited superior protein and carbohydrate stability, while Bidisha (V2) and BG-3043 (V4) were more prone to deterioration. Refrigerated storage (T6) and 700-gauge polythene packets (T5) effectively maintained seed quality, minimizing protein and carbohydrate losses while reducing electrical conductivity. Cloth bags (T1) and brown paper packets (T3) resulted in the highest deterioration. These findings highlight the importance of genotype selection and optimized storage strategies for enhancing chickpea seed longevity and quality.

Seed Quality Enhancement Through Seed Biopriming to Increase Productivity: A Review

Seed Quality Enhancement for Improving Planting Value of Fresh and Aged Seed Lots of Chickpea

Plant Bio-regulators for Enhancing Grain Yield and Quality of Legumes: A Review

Enhancing the Productivity and Quality of Tomato using Magnetized Water and Humic Acid as Bio-stimulant Agents

Enhanced quality fodder production through grass-legume intercropping under arid eco-system of Kachchh, Gujarat

Innovative Post-harvest Treatments to Enhance the Shelf-life and Quality of Carica papaya

Enhancing productivity and quality of fodder maize through soil and foliar zinc nutrition

Seed Osmo-priming in Chickpea Enhances Seed Quality and Crop Performance under Normal and Water Deficit Conditions

Enhancing Physiochemical Properties and Quality of Maize Through Integrated Nutrient Management

Enhancing Chickpea Seed Quality: Impact of Genotype Selection and Storage Conditions