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The present investigation was carried out to optimize the concentration and duration of nutripriming with boric acid for seed quality enhancement in the blackgram variety, Tulasi. The experiment was conducted in the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Advanced Post Graduate Centre, Lam, Guntur, during 2019-20 using Factorial Completely Randomized Design (FCRD) with four replications. Seeds were subjected to nutripriming with various concentrations (0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.5 %) of boric acid for different durations (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h). Primed and unprimed blackgram seed were tested for germination and seedling growth using the between-paper method. Analysis of variance of the results showed that nutripriming with boric acid was quite effective in improving Tulasi seed quality. Among all the concentrations, 0.1 % boric acid was found effective in recording the highest germination (%), seedling length (cm) and seedling vigour index. Irrespective of concentration, priming for 6 h showed maximum improvement in all the seed quality parameters. Nutripriming with 0.1% boric acid for 6 h resulted in better enhancement of germination and seedling quality parameters in blackgram.

Keywords: Blackgram, Germination, Nutripriming, Seedling length, Seedling vigour index, boric acid.