Abstract

Chandan Kumar Pati* and Aloke Bhattacharjee

An investigation was carried out on seed potentiation of an ethnomedicinal pulse crop cultivar horse-gram by using some selected medicinal plant extracts. Pretreatment of horse-gram seeds with aqueous solution of leaf extracts of Aegle marmelos and Vitex negundo slowed down the rapid loss of germination. The plant extracts also significantly arrested profuse leakage of amino acids from seeds. Concomitantly, the reduction of protein, insoluble carbohydrate, DNA and RNA levels as well as activity of catalase enzyme of seed kernels during forced ageing period was ameliorated to a significant extent in the plant extract-pretreated seeds. Conversely, ageing-induced stimulation of the activity of amylase enzyme was alleviated by the seed pretreating agents. The promising effects of the experimental plant extracts on storage potentiation of the seeds are apparent in this investigation.