www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org NANO EMULSION SEED INVIGOURATION FOR IMPROVED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING VIGOUR IN MAIZE M. SURENDHIRAN 1 , K. RAJA 2* , R. JERLIN 2 , S. MARIMUTHU 1 & S. SRIVIGNESH 2 1 Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Nano Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT An experiment was carried out with the objective of to synthesize a novel nano-emulsion using methyl cellulose (biodegradable polymer), vitamin E and surfactant Tween 80. The emulsion was prepared with high pressure homogenization under 10000, 20000, 30000 and 40000 bars and characterized for its properties using Particle Size and Analyzer (PSA), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM). Seeds of Maize cv. COHM 6 were invigourated with methyl cellulose nano emulsion at different concentrations of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 ml kg -1 of seed and tested for its quality under in vitro conditions. The results of PSA showed that the nano emulsion developed at 40000 bars found to register the required particle size of 157.5nm. The SEM and TEM images revealed that methyl cellulose nano emulsion had core shell like micelle. The results of seed quality testing exhibited that nano emulsion coated seeds recorded higher rate of imbibitions, speed of emergence, germination and vigour index. KEYWORDS: Nano Formulation, Methyl cellulose, Seed Encapsulation & Seed Quality Received: Apr 27, 2019; Accepted: May 17, 2019; Published: Jun 10, 2019; Paper Id.: IJASRJUN201946 INTRODUCTION Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most versatile crops mostly grown under rainfed ecosystem. Rainfall, a critical factor in rainfed agriculture, where success depends on the management of every drop of rainfall. Pre monsoon sowing is the proven technique for utilizing the earliest opportunities of rainfall and expedite length of growing period. Farmers hesitate to adopt pre monsoon sowing because of the in consistency of onset and distribution of monsoon. Dry seeding cause damage to seeds due to higher soil temperature and moisture stress when they remain in soil for extended period, in delayed onset of monsoon situations. Hence, keeping seeds in viable conditions in such situations will helpful for the success of dry seeding. Seed coating with polymeric materials which resist heat transfer under high soil temperature and remain porous for water on the receipt of rainfall will be a good strategy for exploiting the potential of dry seeding. Good germination and emergence of healthy seeding will spell for good crop stand (Raja and Satish, 2018). There are pre-sowing seed treatments such as seed hardening, soaking of maize seeds in inorganic salts and plant growth regulators (Sakthivel, 2016) for improving the seed germination and vigour of crops under abiotic stress. Though these technologies have found effective, still there are some practical difficulties exist in adopting at filed level, which in turn focus to develop an alternate technology. Nano science is an emerging field and is highly need in agriculture. It’s important in Seed Science is recent and some of the work done in United States of America clearly demonstrates that nanoparticles can be used to Original Article International Journal of Agricultural Science and Research (IJASR) ISSN (P): 2250-0057; ISSN (E): 2321-0087 Vol. 9, Issue 3, Jun 2019, 333-340 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.