Seed germination of wheat, rye and triticale at different storage variants

Abstract

Germinating ability of winter and winterspring hexaploid triticale seeds, as well as wheat and rye seeds, after nine years of room storage at the temperature of 18-24°C, was studied. The experiment was laid in autumn 2008 and included four repetitions of crop samples within each storage variant: in ears and threshed seeds, in paper and plastic bags. For the experiment, the seeds of the new harvest were dried for 2 months in sheaves. In autumn 2017, the seeds were germinated at the temperature of 24 °C. The most acceptable variants of seed storage (in plastic bags and in ears) as well as differences in seed germinating ability of crops and variety specimens of different development types were revealed. Seed germinating ability of all three crops was satisfactory when stored in ears (68 ± 3%) and in plastic bags (70 ± 3%). Reduced germinating ability (59 ± 2%) was noted after storage in paper bags. When stored in plastic bags, the seeds of winter varieties of triticale, Sears 57 and Cecad 90, showed increased germinating ability: 77 ± 3% and 74 ± 2%, respectively. The seed germinating ability of all winter crops was higher than that of winterspring analogues. Triticale excess averaged 9%, wheat - 4.5%, winter rye - 12%. Among all studied crops and samples, the most late-maturing genotype of winter-spring triticale Cecad 90/5 had the lowest seed germinating ability (45 ± 3%), while winter rye variety Korotkostebelnaya 69 had the highest one (84 ± 4%). The diploid rye had an average seed germination rate by 11% higher than the tetraploid one. Wheat and rye had higher seed germinating ability in all variants of the experiment than triticale genotypes, the germinating ability indices being 72 ± 3%, 68 ± 3% and 61 ± 2%, respectively.