Journal of Experimental Agriculture International

Seed quality is a key factor in improving both seed production and overall crop productivity. Groundnut, being highly prone to lipid peroxidation, experiences rapid seed deterioration when stored under normal ambient conditions. Additionally, conventional pod storage requires significant space, creating challenges for production and storage infrastructure. Keeping these aspects, the present study explores the effect of modified atmospheric storage on the seed quality and biochemical attributes of groundnut under various packaging conditions. This method involves altering the storage atmosphere by adjusting the levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂), oxygen (O₂), and nitrogen (N₂) to establish a controlled environment, with traditional pod storage used as the control. Harvested groundnut (cv. Dh 256) pods were decorticated and shade-dried to a moisture content of 5.10%, then stored under various modified atmospheric packaging combinations for a period of six months (February 2025 to July 2025). Among the treatments, the gaseous combination T₂ (90% CO₂: 5% O₂: 5% N₂) demonstrated superior performance, recording the highest germination (86.00%), seedling vigour  index I (1720), seedling vigour index II (191), seedling dry weight (2.223 g/ 10 seedlings) at the end of the storage period recording higher dehydrogenase activity (0.418 OD value), catalase activity (1.347 µmol H₂O₂ decomposed min⁻¹ g⁻¹ of protein), peroxidase activity (1.831 µmol cm⁻¹ min⁻¹ g⁻¹ of sample) and lower lipase activity (0.185 meq min⁻¹ g⁻¹ of sample). These findings suggest that modified atmospheric packaging effectively maintains seed longevity by slowing deterioration, thereby preserving kernel quality during extended storage.