~ 3289 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(2): 3289-3292 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2018; 7(2): 3289-3292 Received: 15-01-2018 Accepted: 16-02-2018 Bijendra Singh Department of Seed Science and Technology, C S Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India Poonam Singh Department of Seed Science and Technology, C S Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India CB Singh Department of Seed Science and Technology, C S Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India Sagar Kumar Sharma Department of Seed Science and Technology, C S Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India Anubhav Kumar Department of Seed Science and Technology, C S Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India Correspondence Sagar Kumar Sharma Department of Seed Science and Technology, C S Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India Effect of growth regulators on seed germination, seedling growth, vigour and field emergence of freshly harvested seeds of linseed ( Linum usitatissimum L.) Bijendra Singh, Poonam Singh, CB Singh, Sagar Kumar Sharma and Anubhav Kumar Abstract An experiment was conducted during 2014-15 to find out the appropriate levels of growth regulators for enhancing the germination, seedling growth, and vigour and field emergence in linseed. The freshly harvested seeds of linseed cvs. Shival, Shekhar and Rashmi were treated with plant growth regulators viz., GA3, IAA, IBA, TIBA and KNO3 with 50 and 100 ppm concentrations of each growth regulator. The variety Shekhar was the best and responsive. Growth regulator GA3 (100 ppm) was found most effective than IAA, IBA, TIBA and KNO3 because it showed significantly highest values of germination (93.08%), seedling vigour index-I (908.09), SVI- II (58.18) and field emergence (89.33%) by reducing the highest abnormality (55.79%) and number of fresh ungerminated seeds (69.53%) over control. Next to this was second dose of GA3 i.e. 50 ppm which showed higher number of normal seedlings (89.92%) and field emergence (85.67%) with 822.64 vigour index -I and 53.29 vigour index – II, whereas percent reduction in abnormality and fresh ungerminated seeds were 49.14% and 63.38%, respectively and followed by IAA 100 ppm and 50 ppm treatments as both improved germination above IMSCS (80%) i.e. having 86.25% and 82.92%, respectively. Treatment of TIBA with 50 and 100 ppm could not be recommended as they showed detrimental effect on seedling growth. Keywords: growth regulators, seed germination and vigour Introduction Oilseed crops occupy an important place in Indian agriculture. They are rich source of oil, protein, minerals and vitamins. Apart from nutritional points of view, they are good source of fibre also. Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) has chromosomes 2n = 30 belong to the family Linaceae and the genus Linum, which has 100 species. Linum usitatissimum L inn. is commercially the most important one. The freshly harvested seeds of field crops face the problem of dormancy. It is the main puzzle of cereals but linseed seed also face this problem. The freshly harvested seeds are not capable to germinate due to rudimentary embryo or immaturity of seeds due to this reason fresh ungerminated seeds are found during germination test period. Some chemicals and growth regulators like KNO 3 , GA 3 , IBA and IAA successfully break the dormancy in fresh ungerminated seeds and can improve the number of normal seedlings at the time of germination (Kumar and Sastry, 1974, Mohammad et al., 1984, Reddy and Swamy, 1976, Singh et al, 1992 and Tiwari et al., 2001) [2. 4, 6, 7, 8] Henceforth, the present investigation was conducted with the aim to understand the effect of growth regulators on seed germination, seedling growth, vigour and field emergence of freshly harvested seeds of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.). Materials and Methods The experiment was conducted on freshly harvested seeds of linseed produced during Rabi 2013-14 and harvested in the month of April 2014-15. Three varieties were used viz., Shival, Shekhar and Rashmi. The seeds were procured in the month of June (first week) 2014 from DUS test project, Department of Seed Science and Technology, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur. The seeds of all the three varieties were treated with growth regulators viz., Gibberellic Acid (GA 3 ), Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA), Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA), 2,3,5-Triiodobenzoic Acid (TIBA) and Potassium Nitrate (KNO 3 ) each having two doses viz., 50 ppm and 100 ppm. An untreated seeds were considered as a control and observations were recorded as per ISTA Rules, 2007 for seed germination and other vigour