STUDY ON HEALT ATUS OF OKRA SEEDS COLLECTED FROM DIFFERENT LOCATIONS OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Quality and health status of okra seeds collected from farmers, retailers and other from research stations were determined. Total fifty seed samples were collected from nine districts of Bangladesh. Of them, 28 samples were obtained from famers and 17 from retailers and 5 samples from research stations. The samples belonged to 3 varieties viz. Local-I, Local-2 and BARI Dherosh-1. Seed health and quality analysis revealed that moisture content of seed samples were varied significantly. Germination percentage of research station' seeds, retailer' seeds and fanner' saved seeds was 81.93%, 57.82% and 46.10% respectively. Purity percentage varies from 93.68 to 96.94% in different locations and 95.76 to 94.81% in different varieties. Purity percentage of research station' seeds, retailer' seeds and farmer' saved seeds were 96.94%, 95.82% and 94.86%, respectively. Both vigour index (1585.0) and 1000-seed weight (69.llg) were found higher in research station' seeds than the retailer' seeds and farmer' saved seeds. In seed health study, seven fungi namely (I) .Aspergillus flavus, (2) Aspergillus niger, (3) Fusarium spp., (4) Macrophomina phaseolina, (5) Colletotrichum dematium, (6) Rhizopus spp. and (7) Curvularia spp. were found to be associated with the seed samples. Among the fungi prevalence Aspergillus flavus was maximal which was followed by Fusarium spp. All the seven fungal pathogens were more prevalent in fanner' saved seeds compared to other seeds. The seeds were graded as (I) apparently healthy seeds (G-I), (2) discolored seeds (G-II), (3) spotted seeds (G-III) and (4) shriveled & broken seeds (G-IV) based on physical conditions of the seeds. It was found that apparently healthy seeds under G-I yielded lowest incidence of fungi and highest percentage of germination in comparison to other grades.