Impact of Calcium Carbide on Seed Germination of Tomato Genotypes under Controlled Conditions

Abstract

Seed dormancy is key factor for late germination of seeds. Therefore, it is common practice to use various techniques to break down dormancy of dormant seeds for the improvement of germination rate. Exogenous ethylene is known to stimulate germination of dormant and non-dormant seeds if applied in right concentration as excessive ethylene delays or inhibits germination. In order to assess germination variations for ethylene in Lycopersicon esculentum to exogenously applied ethylene released from calcium carbide, five cross pollinated genotypes were screened at the seedling stage by growing them under the influence of 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg petri-dish-1 calcium carbide in Sanyo Incubator MIR 253 in disposable plastic petri-dishes with rubber stopper at one side and sealed air tightly with silicone. A treatment containing calcium sulfate equivalent to the amount of calcium in CaC2 was added in control was also maintained during study for comparison. Findings were that CaC2 @ 40 mg petri-dish-1 inhibited germination of tomato seeds but lower rates (10, 20 and 30 mg petri-dish-1) stimulated germination In short, summarized results exploited that there was 72% increase in germination percentage, 98% increase in shoot weight, 13% increase in shoot due to addition of CaC2 compared to control.