Madras Agric. J. 92 (7-9) : 492-497 July-September 2005
492
Germination improvement using chemicals in naturally aged seeds of sunflower cv. Morden NISHA CHANDRAN, P. BALAMURUGAN Department of Seed Science & Technology, TNAU, Coimbatore.
Abstract : Nine month old seeds of sunflower cv. Morden were soaked in different chemicals viz., ferrous sulphate, borax, cobaltous chloride, ammonium molybdate, potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate and calcium chloride at different concentrations as well as at different seed to solution ratio. The treated seeds after drying to their original moisture content were evaluated for germination and vigour. The results showed that seeds soaked in one per cent calcium chloride solution for 6h in 1:1 seed to solution ratio improved the germination by 18 per cent with increased vigour over control. Key words : Sunflower seeds, chemicals, germination, vigour.
Introduction High quality seeds is the key to successful agriculture. Rapid rate of germination, uniformity in stand and capacity to do well over a wide range of environmental conditions in field are considered to be important as far as seed yield is concerned. Seed treatment has been considered as one of the methods of improving germination, seedling emergence and ultimately crop productivity. Oilseeds are generally poor storer and lose their viability very rapidly under storage. The loss of viability is inevitable, irreversible and inexorable. Its rate and extent could be slowed down to some extent by seed invigouration treatments as those treatments are basically physiological in nature (Basu, 1984). Sunflower is a protein rich oilseed crop which of great demand in the market because of the non-cholestrol and anti-cholestrol properties of its oil. Seed dealers are confronted with poor germination of sunflower seeds especially with carryover seeds and if such seeds are invigourated it may increase the storability and may be a boon to them. The beneficial effects of chemical soaking treatments has been reported by Pandey and Sinha (1999) in groundnut, Renugadevi et al. (2001) in cowpea and Balamurugan et al. (2003) in sunflower.
The present investigation was taken up with the seeds of sunflower cv. Morden to evaluate the efficacy of seed treatments using chemicals in improving germination and vigour.
Materials and Methods Seeds of sunflower cv. Morden formed the material for the present study. The nine month old seeds after initial seed quality evaluation were soaked in ferrous sulphate (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 per cent), borax (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 per cent), cobaltous chloride (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 per cent), ammonium molybdate (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 per cent), potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (1, 2 and 3 per cent) and calcium chloride (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 per cent) and water. The treatments were imposed for 3 h and 6h; at three different seed to solution ratio (w/v) viz., 1:0, 1:1 and 1:2. After the treatment, the seeds were dried to their original moisture content. The dried seeds were evaluated along with control (dry seeds) for their germinability in paper medium (ISTA, 1999) and vigour index values were computed as per Abdul-Baki and Anderson (1973).
Results and Discussion The seed viability in terms of germination showed significant difference among the treatment
Concentration
Location
3 hrs
6 hrs
Mean
(%)
1:0.5 W/N
1:1W/N
1:2 W/N
1:0.5 W/N
1:1 W/N
1:2 W/N
Control
-
71(57.74)
71(57.74)
71(57.74)
71(57.74)
71(57.74)
71(57.74)
71(57.74)
Water soaking
-
72 (58.37)
73 (59.02)
73 (59.02
73(59.02)
75( 60.33)
75( 60.33)
74 (59.67)
0.1 0.2 0.3
80 63.80 80 63.80) 81(64.53)
80(63.80 82 65.27 84(66.82
78 62.38 80(63.80) 79(63.08
70(57.10 70(57.10 70(57.10
76(61.01 68(55.86 76(61.01
72 58.37 69 56.48 76 61.01)
77(51.65)
Cobaltous chloride
0.1 0.2 0.3
79 63.08 64 53.43 70 57.10
76 61.01 59 50.48 72 58.37
74 59.67 59 50.48 72 58.37
61(51.65 73(59.02 64(53.43
62(52.24 76 61.01 64 53.43
70 57.10 76 61.01) 63 52.83)
69(56.48)
Borax
0.1 0.2 0.3
76 61.01 68 55.86 77 51.65
79 63.08 70 57.10 76(61.01
76 61.01 72 58.37 73(59.02
77(51.65 70(57.10 69(56.48)
78 52.24 78 52.24 78 52.24
75 60.34 77 51.65 72 58.37
75(60.34)
Ammonium molybdate
0.1 0.2 0.3
70 57.10) 60 51.06 63 52.83
74 59.67 69 56.48 67 55.24
72(58.37 70 57.10 65 54.03
70(57.10 62(52.24 70(57.10
71 57.14 70 57.10 62 52.24
69 56.48 65 54.03 63 52.83
68(55.86)
Potassium dihydrogen phosphate
1 2 3
73 59.02 73 59.02 66 54.64)
73 59.02 72 58.37 69 56.48
70 57.10 71(57.14 69(56.48
66 54.64 70(57.10 76(61.01
68 55.86 73 59.02 77 51.65
67 55.25 72 58.37 76 61.01
72(58.37)
0.5 1 1.5
73 59.02 76 61.01 73 59.02)
74 59.67 78 62.38 75 60.34
72 58.37 75(60.34 70 57.10
79(63.08 81 54.53 80(63.80
77(51.65 84(66.82 79(63.08
76 61.01 80 63.80) 75 60.34
77(51.65)
C1 73(59.02)
C2 73(59.02)
C3 73(59.02)
V1 72(58.37)
V2 74(59.67)
V3 73( 59.02)
D1 73(59.02)
D2 73(59.02)
Ferrous sulphate
Calcium chloride Mean
Germination improvement using chemicals in naturally aged seeds of sunflower cv. modern
Table 1. Effect of seed invigouration treatments on germination (%)
( Figures in parantheses indicate arcsine values) CD (P=0.05)
T 0.216
C NS
V 0.132
D NS
TxC TxV TxD CXV 0.375 0.375 0.306 NS
CxD VxD TxCxV 0.187 NS 0.649
TxCxD 0.530
CxVxD TxCxVxD NS 0.917 493
(T: Treatments, C: Concentration, V: W/N, D: Duration)
TxVxD 0.530
494
Table 2. Effect of seed invigouration treatments on root length (cm) Concentration (%)
Location
1:0.5 W/N
3 hrs 1:1W/N
1:2 W/N
1:0.5 W/N
6 hrs 1:1 W/N
1:2 W/N
Mean
-
21.1
21.1
21.1
21.1
21.1
21.1
21.1
Water soaking
-
21.1
20.8
19.9
23.2
24.1
24.0
22.2
0.1 0.2 0.3
20.1 20.6 23.0
19.3 23.2 23.7
19.6 21.3 23.1
24.5 20.2 20.3
25.5 21.9 24.6
23.0 19.6 23.6
22.1
Cobaltous chloride
0.1 0.2 0.3
20.2 23.2 13.0
23.8 23.2 13.7
21.6 23.0 16.5
18.6 16.2 13.0
19.6 17.6 13.2
19.0 16.3 14.2
18.1
Borax
0.1 0.2 0.3
20.6 22.0 19.8
23.2 22.6 20.5
23.1 22.3 17.3
20.2 20.4 21.6
24.9 21.8 21.2
23.1 19.5 20.7
21.4
Ammonium molybdate
0.1 0.2 0.3
19.8 25.6 21.0
21.8 25.1 20.7
18.9 25.0 19.2
18.3 20.9 21.5
19.8 22.6 22.5
18.8 21.0 20.9
21.3
Potassium dihydrogen phosphate
1 2 3
21.5 21.0 20.5
21.7 22.2 21.5
20.3 23.6 19.3
19.6 15.2 21.3
21.5 16.0 26.8
19.7 16.1 24.6
20.7
Calcium chloride
0.5 1 1.5
18.2 20.7 20.1
22.9 24.2 21.9
19.0 23.1 21.5
24.0 26.2 18.1
25.6 28.9 18.6
25.2 28.1 18.2
22.5
Mean
C1 21.4
C2 21.7
C3 20.5
V1 20.7
V2 21.9
V3 21.0
D1 21.1
D2 21.3
Ferrous sulphate
( Figures in parantheses indicate arcsine values) CD (P=0.05)
T 0.048
C NS
V 0.029
D TxC TxV TxD CXV 0.024 0.083 0.083 0.068 NS
CxD NS
VxD TxCxV NS 0.144
TxCxD 0.117
(T: Treatments, C: Concentration, V: W/N, D: Duration)
TxVxD 0.117
CxVxD TxCxVxD NS 0.203
Nisha Chandran, P. Balamurugan
Control
Concentration
Location
3 hrs
6 hrs
Mean
(%)
1:0.5 W/N
1:1W/N
1:2 W/N
1:0.5 W/N
1:1 W/N
1:2 W/N
Control
-
2414
2414
2414
2414
2414
2414
2414
Water soaking
-
2470
2774
2621
3029
3255
3150
2900
0.1 0.2 0.3
2904 2728 3159
2732 3128 3385
2714 2824 2860
2849 2618 2513
3278 2540 3200
2880 2484 2934
2910
Cobaltous chloride
0.1 0.2 0.3
2425 2547 1792
2994 2401 1858
2568 2360 1922
2166 2351 1677
2244 2622 1677
2429 2386 1720
2230
Borax
0.1 0.2 0.3
3108 2625 2603
3318 2723 2766
3093 2606 2314
2957 2506 2539
3409 2972 2870
3150 2587 2362
2806
Ammonium molybdate
0.1 0.2 0.3
2541 2316 2268
2856 2788 2452
2311 2751 2295
2471 2344 2877
2648 2849 2647
2346 2464 2469
2539
Potassium dihydrogen phosphate
1 2 3
2738 2847 2409
2781 2930 2622
2611 3060 2436
2482 2296 3055
2734 2446 3611
2533 2398 3344
2741
0.5 1 1.5
2438 2812 2584
3012 3229 2891
2491 3098 2534
3342 3613 2824
3438 4028 2757
3222 3608 2498
3024
C1 2750
C2 2723
C3 2594
V1 2611
V2 2821
V3 2635
D1 2638
D2 2741
Ferrous sulphate
Calcium chloride Mean
Germination improvement using chemicals in naturally aged seeds of sunflower cv. modern
Table 3. Effect of seed invigouration treatments on vigour index
( Figures in parantheses indicate arcsine values) CD (P=0.05)
T 0.033
C NS
V 0.202
D TxC TxV TxD CXV 0.165 0.573 0.573 0.468 NS
CxD NS
VxD TxCxV NS 0.992
TxCxD 0.810
CxVxD TxCxVxD NS 1.40 495
(T: Treatments, C: Concentration, V: W/N, D: Duration)
TxVxD 0.810
496
(Table 1). All the treatments except cobaltous chloride and ammonium molybdate improved the germination per cent compared to control. Seeds treated with ferrous sulphate and calcium chloride recorded a higher germination of 77 per cent compared to control (71 per cent). There was no significant difference among concentration and duration, irrespective of the treatments whereas, soaking seeds in 1:1 seed to solution ratio recorded the maximum germination of 74 per cent. The results clearly indicated that soaking seeds in calcium chloride one per cent at 1:1 ratio for 6h could improve the germination (84 per cent). The favourable effects of calcium chloride has been reported by Sandhya and Gopal Singh (1994), Pandey and Sinha (1999) -in Groundnut and Kalarani et al. (2001) in Ragi. Calcium plays an important role in maintaining cell integrity, membrane permeability and activates a number of enzymes for cell mitosis, division and elongation. It is found to be important for protein synthesis and carbohydrate transfer (Jones 1998) which might have been contributed for increased germination. The same effect was also observed as increase in seed quality in terms of root length and vigour index values (Take 2 and 3). Seeds soaked in calcium chloride solution produced the longest root of 22.5 cm compared to control (21.1 cm) and among the volume of solution used 1:1 seed to solution registered the highest root length of 21.9 cm. Increased root growth has been shown to be as a specific effect of calcium chloride treatment (Kathiresan et al, 1984). The improvement in germination and root length was also reflected in the vigour index values. Significant difference was observed among treatments and the highest was recorded by seeds soaked in calcium chloride solution (3024) compared to control (2414). Maximum vigour was registered by seeds soaked in 1:1 seed to solution ratio (2821) and for seeds
Nisha Chandran, P. Balamurugan
soaked for 6h (2741). The improvement in germination as well as vigour might be due to physio-chemical treatments which could have repaired the membrane system as reported by Dharmalingam and Basu (1990). Therefore, it is evident from the present study that the aged seeds of sunflower cv Morden could be invigourated effectively with calcium chloride one per cent in 1:1 seed to solution ratio for 6h for better germination and vigour.
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(Received : January 2005 Revised : July 2005)
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