Global warming has increased the temperature significantly over a large extent both spatially and temporally. The threat of heat stress during the germination and seedling establishment stages in the wheat crop is now more prevalent than ever before. The present experiment assessed the effect of elevated temperature on the germination and early seedling growth of wheat genotypes. The seeds were sown under four temperatures, viz., 20 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C and 35 °C; the germination, seedling vigor and enzyme activities in 8-day-old seedlings were assessed. The temperature significantly influenced germination and early seedling growth. The germination percentage at 20 and 25 °C was statistically on par with and higher than at 30 and 35 °C. The seedling vigor parameters were maximum at 25 °C and showed a reduction at higher temperatures. Genotypic differences were observed for early heat stress as the genotypes WH 730, WH 1123 and HD 2967 showed tolerance towards heat stress during germination, whereas the genotypes PBW 725 and WH 1105 were susceptible. Antioxidant enzyme activities in seedlings increased with the rise in temperature. Catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase enzymes showed increased activities at higher temperature levels.

This study aimed to classifying wheat genotypes using support vector machines (SVMs) improved with ensemble algorithms and optimization techniques. Utilizing data from 302 wheat genotypes and 14 morphological attributes to evaluate six SVM kernels: linear, radial basis function (RBF), sigmoid, and polynomial degrees 1–3. Various optimization methods, including grid search, random search, genetic algorithms, differential evolution, and particle swarm optimization, were used. The radial basis function kernel achieves the highest accuracy at 93.2%, and the weighted accuracy ensemble further improves it to 94.9%. This study shows the effectiveness of these methods in agricultural research and crop improvement. Notably, optimization-based SVM classification, particularly with particle swarm optimization, saw a significant 1.7% accuracy gain in the test set, reaching 94.9% accuracy. These findings underscore the efficacy of RBF kernels and optimization techniques in improving wheat genotype classification accuracy and highlight the potential of SVMs in agricultural research and crop improvement endeavors.

Seed priming is a simple and cost effective method to obtain a better plant stand under diverse environmental conditions. The current study was designed to determine the optimal priming duration and water volume for wheat seed. For this experiment, three wheat genotypes with distinct genetic and adaptive backgrounds were chosen. Seeds of each genotype were hydroprimed for 7 durations, i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 hours, in three different water volumes, i.e. half, equal, and double volume with respect to seed weight and then surface dried for 1 hour. The control was unprimed (dry) seed. The germination characteristics and seedling vigour potential of hydroprimed seeds were evaluated in the lab by recording several parameters such as germination percentage and speed, seedling growth, and vigour indices at two different temperature levels. The results showed that optimal duration for hydropriming of wheat seed is 12 hours with an equal volume with respect to original seed weight, closely followed by 8 hours with double volume. Reduction in seed performance was observed at 16 and 20 hours priming particularly at double volume treatment. Effect of temperature on seed germination showed improvement in seedling vigour at 25°C when compared to 20°C, although effect on germination percentage was non-significant. Volume of water and priming duration showed significant interactive effects demonstrating that a higher volume can give equivalent results at a shorter duration and vice versa. Another experiment was also conducted to compare the on-farm priming (surface dried seed) with conventional priming (seed re-dried to original moisture) taking 3 potential durations i.e. 8, 12 and 16 hours. Results revealed that both priming methods were statistically at par in terms of germination percentage, while, surface drying resulted in better seedling vigour and speed of germination.

Image analysis is a state-of-the-art technique for seed quality testing. This tool provides vast usage in evaluation of various physiological and morphological characteristics of the seed with a more comprehensive perception. It is based on the extraction of numerical data from a captured image for characteristics like colour, size, shape of seed and seedlings and their subsequent processing with the help of suitable computer software. Speedy analyses, cost-effectiveness, automatic nature and user-friendly environment for work are some important advantages of Image Analysis over other conventional techniques. Numerous software have been developed for application in different fields of seed science research like germination studies, vigour estimation, varietal identification and purity testing etc. and most of these showed their potential adoption in the future as such or with some required transformations.

Aims: An investigation was undertaken to identify the effect of hydropriming on germination, seedling growth and vigour in fresh, one year and two year old seeds of bottle gourd (Pusa Naveen variety and HBGH-35 hybrid). Study Design: The present experiment was laid in Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the laboratories of the Department of Seed Science & Technology, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during the year 2020. Methodology: Seeds of both genotypes were soaked in distilled water for 48 hours in half volume of water with respect to seed weight (w:v) at a constant temperature of 25°C. Then after, germination test was performed using ‘Between Paper’ method to assess the effect of hydropriming on germination and seedling vigour related parameters. Results: It was observed that hydropriming treatment significantly enhanced the germination and vigour of fresh and aged seeds of bottle gourd. Fresh seed lot recorded maximum germination (88.00%), shoot length (21.32 cm), root length (16.89 cm), seedling length (38.21 cm) and seedling dry weight (59.30 mg), vigour index I (3363) and vigour index II (5219) as compared to one year and two year old seed. However, effect of hydropriming was more pronounced on aged seeds as compared to fresh seeds. There was an increase in germination percentage in one year old seed to an extent of 9.69%, in two year old seed to an extent of 7.36%, whereas in fresh seeds it was only 2.30% as a result of hydropriming treatment. Conclusion: It was concluded that one year old seed lot responded better to hydropriming treatment than two year old and fresh seed lot.

Thirty four pearl millet restorer lines were evaluated on the basis of nine seed vigour traits and molecular analysis was done with 55 SSRs to study the genetic divergence among them. Cluster analysis based on seed vigour parameters revealed the considerable amount of variability and all genotypes were divided into six clusters. Furthermore, a set of 39 SSRs, selected after initial screening of 55, amplified 226 alleles with a mean of 5.84 alleles per locus. The highest polymorphic information content (PIC) value obtained was for PSMP 2084 (0.88) with a range of 0 to 0.88 and average PIC of 0.558. Neighbor joining tree based on molecular data differentiated all the genotypes into two major groups. The grouping based on both approaches can help breeders to use the studied material in further breeding for improvement of germination potential and early seedling vigour of pearl millet.