ISHS Acta Horticulturae 253: IV International Symposium on Seed Research in Horticulture
THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENCES IN SEED QUALITY RESULTING FROM PRIMING OR DETERIORATION ON THE RELATIVE GROWTH RATE OF ONION SEEDLINGS |
| Author: | R.H. Ellis |
| Abstract:
Relative growth rate in onion (Allium cepa L.) was not influenced by seed quality in two glasshouse experiments. In the first experiment seeds of one lot of the cultivar White Lisbon were primed, primed and dried, primed dried and stored, or not pre-treated. Analysis of subsequent seedling growth, estimated from dry weight determinations in sequential destructive harvests, showed no significant difference in the relative growth rates of seedlings amongst the four treatments (P > 0.25) and also no significant difference in the absolute effect of the treatments on dry weights (P > 0.05). In the second experiment seeds from three lots of the cultivar Senshyu Semi Globe Yellow certificated in different years were primed or not pre-treated. Relative growth rates did not differ significantly amongst the six treatment conbinations (P > 0.10). Absolute differences between treatment dry weights were significant for both priming (P < 0.005) and seed lot (P < 0.005). There was, however, no significant interaction between the effects of these two factors (P < 0.25). The benefit to seedling dry weights resulting from priming was equal to 3.3 days' growth for all three seed lots, precisely the advancement observed in the timing of seedling emergence of the three lots following priming. It is concluded that differences in seed quality resulting from either priming or deterioration do not influence relative growth rates in onion, and that where differences in yield are associated with differences in the quality of seeds sown the former must result from differences in the timing of emergence. | |
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