MOISTURE CONTENT AND VARIETY OF JUTE SEED IS AFFECTED BY LONG TERM SEED STORAGE

Seed perform a vital role in agricultural sector for crop production as well as seed business. Scarcity of healthy seed hinder not only the crop production but also the quality of seed. Storing of healthy seed with proper storing condition is one of the suitable methods to maximize production however, healthy seed also lose its quality during seed storage. Seed remains viable for long time if the seed stored by maintaining seed moisture content, storage temperature with storage container. So, this experiment was carried out to observe the quality parameters of jute seed during long term storing. To find out the storage effect an experiment was conducted on march, 2020 at seed laboratory, Jute Agriculture Experimental Station, Jagir, Manikganj, Bangladesh during the period of January 2016 to March, 2020. Plastic pot was used in this experiment as a storage container to store jute seeds. Three tossa jute (C. olitorius L.) varieties viz., O-795 (V1), O-9897 (V2) and OM-1 (V3) were used in this study. Result revealed that storage period and jute variety showed significant effect on different seed quality parameters. The highest seed germination, field emergence, seed vigour and the lowest 1000-seed weight, moisture content were recorded in T5 (2019-20) treatment. On the other hand, the lowest seed germination, field emergence, seed vigour and the highest 1000-seed weight, moisture content were recorded in T1 (2015-2016) treatment. Furthermore, seed germination, field emergence, seed vigour was negatively but 1000-seed weight was positively correlate with moisture content. Results revealed that extended storage period caused the decreasing seed quality and seed can be stored for three years in plastic container without hampering the seed quality.