Improvement of seedling establishment under flood condition by seed coating with molybdenum compounds for wheat and barley

Yoshitaka Hara

doi:10.1080/1343943x.2015.1128110

Abstract

Wheat and barley are often cultivated also in paddy fields in winter in Japan. The drainage of paddy fields is often poor. The seedling establishment of wheat and barley is more prone to become poor if it rains heavily after sowing. The flooding damage on seedling establishment is thought to be caused by many factors. The generation of sulfide ions in flooded and reduced soil is thought to be one factor of the flooding damage. In this study, the effect of seed coating with molybdenum compounds, which suppress the generation of sulfide ions, on the flooding damage of wheat and barley seedling establishment. Two poorly soluble molybdenum compounds were coated on wheat or barley seeds at different amounts. Coated seeds were sown in soil and soon flooded for 2 d at 20 °C. When seeds were not coated with molybdenum compounds, rates of seedling establishment were no more than 32%. However, when any molybdenum compounds of .05–.5 mol-Mo kg−1 were coated, seedling establishment was significantly improved and rates of seedling establishment were no less than 54%. However, when sown seed were not flooded, the establishment rates of the seeds, which were coated with a molybdenum compound of no less than .1 or .2 mol-Mo kg-1, were significantly decreased. Accordingly, coating of molybdenum compounds could improve the seedling establishment of coated seeds under flooded condition, but might impair the seedling establishment of coated seeds under unflooded condition.

Highlights

Wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] and barley [Hordeum vulgare L.] are often cultivated in paddy fields in winter in Japan
The effect of seed coating with molybdenum compounds, which suppress the generation of sulfide ions, on the flooding damage of wheat and barley seedling establishment
As for wheat, when seeds that were not coated with molybdenum compounds were sown under unflooded condition, the establishment rate of seedling was 93% or 98% (Figure 1A and B)

Summary

Introduction

Wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] and barley [Hordeum vulgare L.] are often cultivated in paddy fields in winter in Japan. There are more attention and more studies on overcoming the damage in the latter stage (Tani et al, 2015) If it rains heavily after sowing, their fields are flooded and their seeds rot. Such flooding damage causes the decreases in seedling establishment (Oyanagi, 2008; Yamamoto et al, 1999). This decrease causes the decrease in the yield (Inamura et al, 2007).The occurrence of flood or wet damage of wheat and barley would be associated with environmental factors and crop characteristic factors (Kawaguchi, 2010). The generation of sulfide ion in reduced soil seems to be one of the environmental factors

Methods

Results

Conclusion