Vol. 8, Issue 12, Part A (2024)

Due to ageing of seed over the time, seed loses its vigour and viability, which makes it unfit for sowing and certification. This is of paramount concern in onion which is a poor storer and loses its viability rapidly. Seed quality enhancement of such seed is of utmost requisite, among the different enhancement techniques the cost effective, non-chemical and eco-friendly magnetic field, seems to be promising in modern agriculture. Hence the experiment was conducted at Department of Seed Science and Technology, UAS Dharwad in the Kharif 2023 to find out understand the effect of magnetic field on seed quality and biochemical parameters of aged and low vigour onion with 68 percent germination. Methodology consisted of subjecting the aged onion seeds (6 months old) of variety Bheema Super to magnetic field of different intensities and time periods and were compared with untreated control. Moreover the seeds upon treated with various intensities of magnetic field were subjected to nine months of storage in ambient conditions and the biochemical and seed quality parameters were noted. Data was analysed using CRD with three replications. Amongst the magnetic field treatments, 60mT for 30 minutes was found to be best with enhanced seed quality and biochemical parameters where the germination, speed of germination, Total seedling length, Total dehydrogenase activity and Catalase activity increased by 12, 54.1, 66, 186.45 and 47.47 percent respectively as compared to untreated control. The 60 mT for 30 minutes magnetic field treatment was able to maintain the minimum germination percentage of onion even after nine months of storage. Deleterious effects on seed quality were observed at high intensities of magnetic field treatments. It has been found the effectiveness of magnetic field depends on magnitude as well as duration of exposure. Hence magnetic field can be successfully used to improve the quality of marginal quality seeds of onion.