Farmers adopt on-farm seed priming, a simple, low-cost agronomic technique.
1997
Harris, D.
Poor crop establishment was identified as a major constraint on rainfed crop production by farmers in the tribal villages of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh served by the KRIBHCO Indo-British Rainfed Farming Project (KRIBP) and by the farmers of the Musikavanhu Communal Area in Natural Region V of Zimbabwe. In vitro screening of the effects of priming on the germination of seeds of local and improved varieties of maize, upland rice and chickpea (India) and maize, sorghum and pearl millet (Zimbabwe) provided 'safe limits' ⎯the maximum length of time for which farmers should prime seeds and which, if exceeded, could lead to seed or seedling damage. Recommended safe limits were 24 h (rice), 12 h (maize), 10 h (sorghum), 8 h (chickpea, and pearl millet), with only minor varietal differences. These recommendations were then tested in on-station trials in Dahod, Gujarat and at Save Valley Research Station, Chipinge.
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