EFFECT OF STORAGE CONTAINER ON KENAF SEED QUALITIES

Kenaf seeds lose their ability to germinate during storage, leading to a lack of quality seeds compared to planting requirements, hindering the expansion of kenaf cultivation in Bangladesh. The effects of different storage containers on the germination, field emergence moisture content and 100 seed weight of kenaf seeds of three varieties were studied during a 4-month storage period from mid-January 2022 to mid-May 2022 in a room. Four different containers viz. C1=A plastic pot, C2=a polythene bag, C3=a cloth bag and C4=an earthen pot are used to store kenaf seeds. Three varieties, V1=HC-95, V2=HC-2 and V3=BJRI Kenaf-3 were used in this experiment. This experiment revealed that the percentage of germination and field emergence of all three varieties were reduced with increasing the storage time. On the other hand moisture content and 100-seed weight of three selected varieties were increased with increasing the storage period. Among the four containers it was observed that after 120 days of storage germination percentage was maximum for plastic pot (81.6%) followed by polythene bag (80.6%), cloth bag (58.6%) and minimum for earthen pot (56.0%). Similarly in field emergence the highest result found for plastic pot (72.3%) and lowest for earthen pot (53.3%). On the other hand the highest moisture content and 100 seed weight were recorded in cloth bag (21.1%) and 4.7g in earthen pots respectively and the lowest moisture content (10.4%) and 100 seed weight (3.26%) in plastic pots. Germination rate at 120 DAS was recorded maximum in HC-95 (70.2%) and minimum in BJRI Kenaf-3 (67.7%). The highest filed emergence at 120 DAS was found in HC-2 (63.0%) and lowest in BJRI Kenaf-3 (61.3%). The highest moisture content and 100-seed weight at 120 DAS were obtained in HC-2 (15.8%) and BJRI kenaf-3 (4.04%) respectively. The results reveal that the quality of kenaf seeds decrease with increase the storage time.