ABSTRACT
Two identical field experiments in a 6 x 3 factorial scheme replicated thrice in randomized complete block design were carried out in April and August 2002 respectively in Benin city, Nigeria, to evaluate the effects of water/heat treatments on okra seeds (no pre-soaking, pre-soaking at 7 and 45oc initially respectively for 24h and with and without air-drying for 24/h and keeping in freezer at -5oc for 48h) and seed dressing with 0, 0.25 and 0.5g per 1kg seeds on the emergence, growth and yield of okra. Both pre-soaking of okra seeds in water and subsequently air-drying and subjecting okra seeds to -5oc temperature for 48h before planting enhanced both the speed of emergence and plant stand. The earliness in seed emergence in these treatments did not translate into significantly higher values in their subsequent vegetative growth and pod yield although these characters were enhanced in them.
The speed of emergence, vegetative growth, and pod yield were also enhanced when okra seeds were dressed with Apron plus before sowing. The advantage in pod yield/ha obtained when seeds were dressed arose from a combination of higher number of pods/plants, heavier mean pod weight (Experiment 1 only) and a longer pod harvest duration compared to the undressed control plants. Pod yield/ha was optimum with seed dressing using 0.25g Apron plus/1kg seed.
Significant interactions occurred between water/heat treatment and seed dressing for first emergence date, % plant dry matter at 50% flowering date, and pod yield/ha, % plant stand at 4 weeks after planting, mean leaf size at 50 % flowering date (Experiment 2). These interactions showed that seed dressing with 0.25 and 0.5g/kg seeds generally enhanced these characters over the various water/heat treatments compared with when no seed dressing occurred.
