ISHS Acta Horticulturae 218: XII African Symposium on Horticultural Crops
EFFECT OF SEED SIZE UPON GERMINATION AND EARLY STAGES OF PLANT GROWTH OF COWPEA (VIGNA UNGUICULATA L.) |
| Authors: | S.P. Singn, P.N. Rai |
| Abstract:
Processed seed of a cowpea cv. Pusa-Do-Fasli was manually separated into four categories of seed grade: bold, medium bold, medium and small size seeds, having 1 000 seed weights of 89, 75, 64 and 49 g, respectively. The processed bulk seed had 70 g per 1000 seed weight. The laboratory experiments revealed that less time was required for germination initiation of medium seeds and small seeds (21 h in each case) as compared to bold seeds (28 h), medium bold seeds (27 h) and bulk seeds (25 h). However, results on germination percentage indicated a distinct advantage of larger over smaller seeds. Larger seeds showed early vigorous seedling growth as compared to smaller seeds. Shoot and root lengths and seedlings weights of various categories of seeds were significantly different starting from 4th day up to the 20th stage, except for shoot and root lengths at the 4th day, when the differences were non-significant. | |
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