Physico-Chemical Control of Seed Deterioration
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RN BASU
University College of Agriculture, Calcutta University, Calcutta 700 019
Author
Keywords:
NilAbstract
The loss of viability of seeds of wheat, rice, jute, sunflower and several pulses and vegetables, under ambient and accelerated ageing conditions, could be significantly slowed down by soaking the seeds halfway during storage, with water or dilute solutions (10-10-2M) of a range of chemicals for 2-6 hours, followed by drying back to original weight. Water soaking and drying itself has been found to be effective in majority of the seeds investigated. Instead of soaking in water, a light spray with water or solutions of the chemicals or even moisture equilibration with a saturated atmosphere, followed by drying back, prolonged the viability of wheat seeds. Soaking in double the volume of water, however, gave better results in majority of the materials. Treatment of fresh seeds or very old seeds was less effective than treatment of stored seeds (after 4-6 months of normal storage) of good germinability. A second treatment after several months of storage would further extend the viability. The soaking and drying treatments improved the immediate germinability of seeds but the beneficial effects were greatly magnified upon storage. Evidences have been presented to suggest that the treatments which extend seed viablity possibly do so by reducing the free radical damage to the cellular components.
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References
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