210 Water Uptake in Film-coated shrunken-2 Sweet Corn (Zea mays)

Abstract

One possible influence film-coating may have on seeds is modifying water uptake and electrolyte leaking during imibibition. Film-coating is a seed treatment that can improve sweet corn germination, especially under cold soil conditions. Two shrunken-2 sweet corn varieties (`Even Sweeter' and `Sugar Bowl') were treated with a polymer film-coating and evaluated for water uptake patterns during imibibition. `Even Sweeter' is a low-vigor sweet corn, while `Sugar Bowl' is a high-vigor variety. Standard germination tests were performed according to AOSA rules and suggest film-coated seeds germinated at a slower rate than untreated seeds. After 4 days of imibibition, `Sugar Bowl' film-coated seeds had 5% germination, while untreated seeds had ≈20% germination. However, after 7 days, film-coated seeds had 94% germination with untreated seeds at 80% germination. Results were similar for `Even Sweeter'. Bulk electrical conductivity readings were taken over 24 h to determine the amount of electrolyte leakage during imibibition. Low-vigor `Even Sweeter' had 92% higher overall leakage than high-vigor `Sugar Bowl'. Additional conductivity readings were taken for both seed lots every 2 h for 12 h. Film-treated seeds leaked 15% less than untreated seeds for `Sugar Bowl'. However, `Even Sweeter' film-coated seeds actually leaked 17% more than the untreated seeds. In both cases, 70% of electrolyte leakage occurred within the first 12 h of imibibition. An imibibition curve was established for the two seed lots comparing untreated and film-coated seeds. During the first 6 h of water uptake, film-treated seeds weighed ≈50% more than the untreated seeds for both `Even Sweeter' and `Sugar Bowl'. Pathways for water uptake as influenced by film-coating shrunken-2 seeds will also be presented.