SELECTED PREHARVEST TREATMENTS ON SUBSEQUENT SEED QUALITY OF OKRA (ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS L.)

Abstract

Preharvest treatments affect the quality seeds, which has great importance on crop productivity. This study aims to determine the effects of selected preharvest treatment, including the application of muriate of potash, gibberellic acid (GA3) and Paclobutrazol (PBZ) on the quality of okra seed. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with four treatments replicated three times. Okra flower was sprayed with 100 ppm of GA3 and PBZ at seven days after anthesis and muriate of potash was applied directly to the soil. The weight of pods, length and width of pods, number of seeds, the weight of seeds/pod, polar and equatorial size of seeds, dry matter of seeds and pods, and internal structure of seeds were gathered. Application of GA3, PBZ, and muriate of potash increased the weight of pods, dry matter of seed and dry matter of pods from 2 to 2.83 grams, 0.15 to 0.57 grams and 0.15 to 0.53 grams, respectively. These weights were higher than the control at day 28. Okra had wider pods than the control when applied with Paclobutrazol (mean of 16.27 at day 7 and 17.19 mm at 21 days after anthesis). Application of Paclobutrazol enhanced the equatorial of seeds at 7, 21, and 28 days although it showed a comparable result to the control treatment. Application of muriate of potash increased the number of seeds per pod compared to all other treatments at 21 days (53.67 seeds/pod) and 28 days (58.84 seeds/pod) after anthesis. Thus, the application of GA3, PBZ, and muriate of potash can be beneficial because most of the quality parameters of the okra seeds improved as compared to the control treatment.