~ 1564 ~    Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2017; 6(5): 1564-1566 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2017; 6(5): 1564-1566 Received: 17-07-2017 Accepted: 18-08-2017 Syed Mohmad Afrayeem Research scholar in Seed Science and Technology, Dept. of Genetics and plant Breeding SHUATS, Allahabad UP, India AK Chaurasia Associate Professor, Dept. of Genetics and plant Breeding SHUATS, Allahabad UP, India Correspondence Syed Mohmad Afrayeem Research scholar in Seed Science and Technology, Dept. of Genetics and plant Breeding SHUATS, Allahabad UP, India Effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles on seed germination and seed vigour in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) Syed Mohmad Afrayeem and AK Chaurasia Abstract In order to determine the effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles on seed germination and seed vigour in chilli, an experiment was conducted at the Seed Testing Laboratory (STL) of Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Deemed to be university, Allahabad in CRD (Completely Randomized Block Design) having three replications. In present investigation, different concentration (0.0, 0.25,0.50 and 0.75g) of ZnO Nps were prepared in distilled water and used for the treatment in chilli seeds to study the effect on seed germination, root length, shoot length and seedling growth. The results showed that the effect of ZnO nanopaticle was significant on germination percentage, root length, shoot length and seedling length. Seed germination increased in higher concentrations, however showed decrease in values at lower concentrations. The root, shoot and seedling length was also maximum in higher concentration and in lower concentrations it showed decreased values. Keywords: Nanoparticles, germination, vigour, chilli, treatment. Introduction Chilli (Capsicum annuum) belongs to the genus Capsicum under Solanaceae family widely grown in almost all areas and seasons in India (Asaduzzaman et al., 2010) [6] . Chilli is widely grown as spice, vegetable or cash crop in the tropics. (Hemannavar, 2008) [7] . Globally chili is grown over an area of 1.7 million ha with production of 7.18 million tons (Anon., 2014) [5] . The average yield of chilli in India is 1.878 metric t ha -1 which is very low compared to the yield of other chilli growing countries of the world. Delayed and erratic germination of chilli seeds is one of the reasons of low yield of chilli. There are many factors responsible for the delayed and erratic germination of chilli seeds. Among the various factors, diseases are predominant. Chilli suffers from many diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes and also abiotic stresses. Fungal diseases play a vital role in reducing the germination of chilli. Among the fungal diseases damping off, anthracnose or fruit rot, powdery mildew and leaf spots are the most prevalent ones. It is a wide year spread problem limiting the profitable cultivation and seed production throughout the major chilli growing regions of India. The disease has been observed to occur in three phases viz., (i) seedling blight or damping off stage, prevalent in the nursery, (ii) leaf spotting and die back stage which is initiated at different stages of growth and (iii) fruit rot stage in which especially the ripe fruits are infected. The disease is both seed borne and air borne and affects seed germination and vigour to a greater extent (Ahmed, 1982; Perane and Joi, 1988; Mesta, 1996 and Asalmol et al., 2001) [1-4] . Seed treatment is a process of treating seeds by any physical, chemical, biological or other agent(s) to destroy harmful seed-borne organisms or to protect the seeds against infection. It is done to prevent germination failure and seedling infection, to destroy external and internal seed borne pathogens and to develop a protective zone around the seed in the soil which protects the germinating seed and seedling from the attack of certain soil borne pathogens. To increase the production of chilli qualitatively and quantitatively; farmer requires healthy and quality seeds with high percentage of germination and purity. Hence, it is imperative that seeds must be tested before they are sown in the field. The biocidal properties of the NPs have significant practical relevance. Antibacterial and antifungal properties of metal NPs can be tapped to control bacterial and fungal organisms responsible for crop losses. However, it must be very clear that these NPs should not have any adverse effect in plant systems. Hence, in present investigation it was planned to study the influence of ZnO NPs on seed germination and seed vigour in chilli. Materials and Methods Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sam Higginbotom University of Agriculture,