The effects of ripening and drying of carrot seed (Daucus carota) crops on germination

Abstract

SUMMARYCarrot seeds taken from the parent plant were capable of germinating before the stage when maximum seed dry weight was reached but even after this stage, when the seed moisture content had fallen below 20%, improvement in seed germination characteristics continued. In the latter stages of seed growth losses by shedding were 12–20 kg/ha/day. For low density crops (10 plants/m2) the yield of viable seed was at a maximum in crops whose seed was harvested with a moisture content of between 20 and 40% but no consistent relationship could be established for high density crops (80 plants/m2).There were no effects of umbel order or plant density on mean germination time or spread of germination. At any early harvest, percentage germination was highest for primary‐umbel‐seeds and seeds from low density crops but the differences between the seed origins diminished with later harvests.Drying the seeds on the umbels improved the percentage germination, reduced the mean germination time and the spread of germination particularly at the early harvests compared with seeds removed from the umbels and germinated immediately without drying.