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Sugarbeet (Beta
vulgaris L.)
seed pre-treatment
with water and HCl to improve germination
Maralian Habib
Department of plant production, Moghan Junior College
of agriculture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, P. O. Box:
178, Pars Abad, Ardabil, Iran. E-mail: h_maralian@yahoo.com.
Tel: 00989141548667. Fax: 00984527463417.
Accepted
26 November, 2009 |
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This study
was conducted to evaluate the effects of pre-sowing seed
treated by soaking in distilled water and two concentrates
of hydrochloric Acid (0.03 N HCl and 0.3 N HCl) at three
different time ( 2, 4 and 6 h) by factorial arrangement
based on completely randomized design with three
replications in the University of Mohaghegh,
Ardabili
(Agronomy Laboratory). For each treatment, 25 uniform seeds
were washed with distilled water, dilute hydrochloric acid
and concentrated hydrochloric acid at 2, 4 and 6 h. Samples
were sterilized using dilute sodium hypochlorite (2%) for 5
min. The treated and untreated seeds (control) were potted
on sterilized Whatman paper in Petri-dishes. At the end of
experiment, the percentage of germination, rate of
germination, time of germination and T10 were
evaluated. The results indicated that percentage of
germination, mean time of germination, rate of germination
and T10, were affected significantly in all
treatments in comparison with untreated seeds as well as the
type and time of treatment. Results showed that both the
type and time of treatment could improve the rate of
germination. Soaking six hours with diluted acid (0.03 N) or
with water, improved significantly the mean time of
germination, rate of germination and T10 in comparison with
untreated seeds.
Result
also indicated that seed treatment with water or 0.03 N
hydrochloric acid for 6 h improved seed germination.
Ultimately, the highest and lowest level of germination rate
was obtained with soaking seeds in diluted acid (0.03 N) and
concentrated acid (0.3 N), respectively. Therefore
seed treatment with water could be low cost and more
effective and thus could be suggested.
Key
words: Sugar beet,
germination, HCl, water, pre-treatment. |
