Ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.) is an important cucurbitaceous vegetable crop widely grown in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. In addition to culinary properties, it has therapeutic properties and is used for extraction of fibres. Seed priming is a simple, low-cost, low-risk intervention and powerful technique for improve seedling emergence, seedling vigour and yields of several crops. The laboratory experiment was conducted at Department of Seed Science and Technology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai during 2014-15, to find out the effect of priming with bovine urines of cow, buffalo, goat and pig. The ridge gourd seeds were soaked for 12 h with different concentrations of 5 and 10% along with control (dry treatment). The seed quality parameters viz., germination, root length, shoot length, vigour index and dry matter production were evaluated. Among the bovine urines treated, the best performance was observed in buffalo urine (5%) by recording highest germination per cent (97), root length (14.1), shoot length (14.5), dry matter production (1.41), vigour index I (2803) and vigour index II (138.18) compared to control (84, 11.9, 12.3, 1.41 and 2033 and 94.08, respectively)

Keywords: Bovine urines –ridge gourd- priming- vigour index-organic