Assessment of the Morphological Structure of Watermelon and Muskmelon Seeds as Related to Viability

Abstract

Morphologically perfect seeds are critically important for raising normal, healthy seedlings as well as for increasing germination percentages. In this study, an X-ray microCT scanner was employed to generate CT images to investigate the internal conditions of naturally aged watermelon and muskmelon seeds. Different seed components, such as the seed coat thickness, the size of the embryo, the area of the air space inside the seed, the embryo structure, and the damages diagnosis in the seed anatomy were selected as observation parameters for investigation of the dicot seed samples. The areas of the seed coat thickness, embryo, and the internal air space were measured by ImageJ software, and the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was performed to inspect the significant differences in the parameters of the normal viable and the nonviable/abnormal viable seeds. A paper germination test was performed to identify the normal viable and nonviable/abnormal viable seeds. The findings of this study indicate that there was no significant difference in the seed coat thickness of the normal viable and the nonviable/abnormal viable naturally aged seeds, but the embryo and internal air space area structures were distinctive. The normal viable seeds contained a large embryo with nominal air space inside the seed, whereas the nonviable/abnormal viable seed embryo size was relatively small with a vast internal cavity. Based on the results of this study, we concluded that the normal viable and nonviable/abnormal viable aged seeds had significant differences in their morphological structures that adversely affect seed germination.