Varietal Performance of French Bean and Impact of Magneto Priming on their Seed Germination Traits

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to study the varietal performance of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and the impact of magneto-priming on their seeds by exposing them to a magnetic field strength of 200 mT for 60 minutes on the terrace of the Shri Vaishnav Institute of Agriculture, Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth Vishwavidyalaya, Indore, during the rabi season of 2022. Treatment with magnetic fields improved germination-related parameters such as germination percentage, hypocotyl length, root length, and dry weight of seedlings of French bean seeds under laboratory conditions. Improvement over untreated control was 15–25% for germination percent, 16–50% for hypocotyl length, 5–28% for root length, 2–44% for weight of seedling, 27–40% for leaf area, 0–15% for plant height, 10–44% for leaf fresh weight, 5–45% for stem fresh weight, 6–35% for root fresh weight, 9–43% for total fresh weight, 6–36% for leaf dry weight, 7–38% for stem dry weight, 6–18% for root dry weight, and 2–34% for total dry weight respectively. The research additionally investigated the impact of magneto-priming on plant growth metrics including leaf area, plant height, leaf fresh weight, stem fresh weight, root fresh weight, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, and root dry weight under field conditions. Among various growth parameters, one-month-old plants exhibited the greatest improvement in leaf area, plant height, leaf fresh weight, stem fresh weight, root fresh weight, total fresh weight, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, root dry weight, and total dry weight. The results clearly show the positive impact of pre-sowing magnetic treatment on enhancing germination parameters, seedling vigor, and biomass accumulation in French bean, in both laboratory and field settings.