Impact of Pre-Sowing Seed Treatments on Sweet Corn Landraces under Moringa Leaf Extract

A field trial was conducted during the summer of 2021 at the Agronomy Research Farm, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, to investigate the impact of seed priming with different concentrations of moringa leaf extract on sweet corn landraces. The experiment used a randomized complete block design with three replications to assess various phenological, growth, and yield parameters. Results showed that seed priming with a 10% moringa leaf extract solution significantly influenced sweet corn phenology. The primed seeds exhibited earlier emergence (7.5 days), tasseling (55.9 days), silking (62.6 days), and physiological maturity (88.3 days) compared to the unprimed seeds (emergence: 9.2 days, tasseling: 59.4 days, silking: 66.5 days, physiological maturity: 90.9 days). Furthermore, the 10% moringa leaf extract priming treatment resulted in superior growth and yield parameters. It led to maximum plant height (181.9 cm), number of ears (10 m-2), number of grains per ear (372), thousand-grain weight (174.2 g), biological yield (9912 kg ha-1), grain yield (2985 kg ha-1), and harvest index (30.1%). Conversely, the unprimed seeds had lower values for these parameters (plant height: 172.7 cm, number of ears: 8 m-2, number of grains per ear: 354, thousand-grain weight: 167.1 g, biological yield: 9423 kg ha-1, grain yield). Among the sweet corn landraces tested, the Kashmir variety exhibited earlier phenological stages (emergence: 7.8 days, tasseling: 56.2 days, silking: 63.2 days, physiological maturity: 88.6 days) compared to the Kunarh landrace (emergence: 8.6 days; tasseling: 58.6 days, silking: 65.3 days, physiological maturity: 90.1 days). Additionally, the Kashmir landrace demonstrated higher values for plant height (180.0 cm), number of ears (10 m-2), number of grains per ear (368), thousand-grain weight (173.0 g), biological yield (9923 kg ha-1), grain yield (3008 kg ha-1), and harvest index (30.3%) compared to the Kunarh landrace (plant height: 175.8 cm, number of ears: 9 m-2, number of grains per ear: 360, thousand-grain weight: 168.4 g, biological yield: 9540 kg ha-1, grain yield: 2782 kg ha-1, harvest index: 29.2%). It was concluded that pre-sowing seed treatments could improve seed quality, yield, and growth performance of sweet corn landraces and that landraces have the potential for cultivation and improvement.