Published in AgroLife Scientific Journal, Volume 8, Number 2
Written by Grigore MOLDOVAN, Adrian BĂRBOS
As with any living organism, reproduction, aging and then death is a complex phenomenon unfolding within the seed, in which there is not only her life, but also hereditary properties of the plant that are of particular importance in the production potential. The seeds belonging to four inbred lines and five maize hybrids were stored in a dry state, in an open warehouse for a period of 36 months, and their germination, was evaluated in the initial phase, and then after every 12 months. The object of this research is the Study of the aging process (the decline of viability) of the "orthodox" seeds stored and develop a complex equation for seed viability, to make it possible to predict the germination of the lots, after a period of storage. For seed lots where the average germination has to be higher than the minimum allowed value we will introduce the concept "useful life" of the lot. Using the procedure of orthogonal polynomial coefficients the sum of squares SSΔ of the factor duration of storage and SSLxD of the interaction Lines x Duration storage, they were broken down into components: ΔL–Linear, ΔQ– Quadratic and Δrez-Residual meaning L x ΔL - Linear, L x ΔQ - Quadratic and L x Δrez - Residual. The significant effect of the component, Linear and Square in the case of both factors, shows that the reactions of the lines regarding the preservation of the quality during the storage under the given conditions are unpredictable, which means that the answer cannot be predicted and quantified according to a certain equation. For the hybrid seed of maize belonging to the studied lots, an equation of the viability of the seeds of the form could be developed: v=Ki - tg φ *p, whose slope coefficient d=tgφ is assimilated with the rate of deterioration of seed lots. In addition to controlling and adjusting the parameters of the storage environment, fungicide treatment has proven to be a solution, in increasing the "useful life" of the lot. By treating the seeds of the Turda Favorit hybrid with the fungicide, the rate of decline decreases more than double, from d=4.5x10-4 (untreated variant), to d=2.0x10-4. In the case of the inbred lines, a weaker preservation of the initial seminal qualities is observed than in the case of the hybrid maize seed. Conservation capacity depends on the genetic particularities of each genotype or line.
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