Germination of tropical forage seeds stored for six years in ambient and controlled temperature and humidity conditions in Thailand

Michael D Hare,Naddakorn Sutin,Supaphan Phengphet,Theerachai Songsiri

doi:10.17138/tgft(5)26-33

Abstract

Germination of tropical forage seeds stored for six years in ambient and controlled temperature and humidity conditions in Thailand

Highlights

Many tropical forage seeds produced and sold in Thailand are stored under ambient conditions in store rooms and shops where there is no control over temperature and humidity
Embryo dormancy in Mombasa and Tanzania guinea grasses was overcome within 6 months in cool-room storage (Hare et al 2014)
Germination percentages of forage grass seeds stored in a cool-room in this study varied substantially after 3 years of storage with many below 50%

Summary

Introduction

Many tropical forage seeds produced and sold in Thailand are stored under ambient conditions in store rooms and shops where there is no control over temperature and humidity. The seeds are stored in conditions similar to those used to keep other grains for animal feed but which are not required to germinate. Forage seeds are sometimes carried over between years. There have been increasing concerns and reports about the declining germination quality of these forage seeds. Stored tropical grass seeds in a cool-room Relative humidity, RH) and found that germination rates of seeds initially with high viability remained high after 6 years cool-room storage. It was important for us to find the ideal storage conditions in Thailand that would maintain seed germination of our commercial forage seeds at acceptable levels for more than 1 year

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion