Improvement of Seed Germination Performance of Stored Commercial Pepper Seed Lots with Chlorophyll Fluorescence Sorting Method
Burcu Begüm Kenanoglu
Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture and Nature Science, University of Uşak, 64000 Uşak, Turkey.
Ibrahim Demir *
Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ankara, 06110 Ankara, Turkey.
Henk Jalink
Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture, POB 644, NL-6700 AP Wageningen, The Netherlands.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This work was conducted to investigate whether Chlorophyll Fluorescence (CF) sorting method enhanced the seed germination and vigor (mean germination time) of stored (aged) commercial seed lots of four different pepper cultivars. Seeds were stored hermetically for 6 and 12 months at -18, 5 and 25°C with 8.0±0.2% of seed moisture. Laboratory germination and mean germination time were determined on stored and CF-sorted and unsorted seed subsamples. Results indicated that CF-sorting significantly increased laboratory germination (p<0.05), and reduced mean germination time (p<0.05). CF-sorted seeds from fractions with low CF had higher germination performance than unsorted ones. It can be concluded that CF as a non-destructive sorting technology has the potential to upgrade the quality of stored, aged pepper seed lots.
Keywords: Chlorophyll fluorescence, seed germination, Capsicum annuum L, vigor