Determination of Seed Size Properties of Soybean Cultivars and Their Response under Salinity during Early Growth

Abstract

Background: Seed sorting by seed size has been increasingly given importance in Türkiye but little is known about the impacts of seed size of soybean on germination and seedling growth, in regions suffering from salinity problems. Methods: The seeds classified as small (6-7 mm for Ataem, 4-6 mm for Kocatürk, 4-7 mm for Batem Erensoy and 4-5 mm for Göksoy) and large ( greater than 8 mm for Ataem and Batem Erensoy, greater than 7 mm for Kocatürk and greater than 6 mm for Göksoy. Seeds were exposed to 0, 10 and 20 dS m-1 of NaCl. Germination percentage, mean germination time and seedling growth parameters were investigated and compared. Result: Investigations revealed that, regardless of variety small seeds had a high content of chlorophyll pigments and slow and late mean germination time under NaCl stress. Emergence percentage differentiated in relation to seed size large seeds with 90.67% and small seeds with 73.67%. In conclusion, the large seeds produced significantly vigorous germination and seedling growth related to their high nutrient reserves and containing less chlorophyll pigmentation in their seeds. Therefore, care should be taken to select larger seeds, under saline conditions (10 dS m-1).