Dravya—As an organic agent for the management of seed-borne fungi of sorghum and its role in the induction of defense enzymes

A commercially developed cytokinin and seaweed extract formulation “Dravya” was used at 0.3% concentration for soaking of sorghum seeds for 12 h to test its effect on germination, vigour index, chlorophyll content and defense enzyme activity against seed mycoflora of sorghum. Among the treatments, Dravya (0.3%) with Dithane M-45 (0.1%) and GLSTIN (0.1%) or separately or in combination resulted is maximum percentage of seed germination, seedling vigour and reduced the incidence of seed mycoflora besides defense enzymes enhancement was noticed. In this study, Dravya was used for seed soaking, foliar spray, separately as well as in combination with GLSTIN and Mancozeb M-45 to test its efficacy in the enhancement of seedling vigour, chlorophyll content and defence enzyme activities. Hence, it is inferred that Dravya is a good growth promoter and improves natural resistance to disease in sorghum.