EFFECT OF MACHINE HARVEST ON STORABILITY OF GROUNDNUT SEEDS IN DIFFERENT STORAGE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Groundnut is an important oilseed crop worldwide; Seed quality is the direct determinant of crop yield. Mechanization becomes inevitable in the countries India. At the same time, handling the seeds with machine during harvest causes the damage in the initial seed quality. The initial seed quality decides the storability of the seeds. This experiment was conducted to study the effect of machine harvest on storability of the seeds. The seeds were harvested manually and with machine at physiological maturity and harvestable maturity stages and stored in ambient and cold storage conditions. Results revealed that the seeds harvested manually at physiological maturity stage and stored in cold storage recorded the maximum storability of the seeds for 8 months. At the same time, the seeds machine harvested at physiological maturity and stored in cold storage also recoded the 70 % germination (Indian Minimum germination standard for Groundnut) for 7 months. Hence where ever the machine harvest is necessary, the seeds could be stored in cold storage to maintain the seed quality.