Improving the Reproducibility of Soybean Standard Germination Test

ABSTRACTDry, windy weather conditions during harvest can lead to very low seed-moisture content and severe soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed germination problems. Some low-moisture con-tent seed lots have particularly low and highly variable standard germination test results, pre-sumably caused by imbibitonali injury T. he objec-tives of this study were to evaluate the infl uence of seed moisture content and seed composition on germination in the laboratory and fi eld, and to evaluate standard germination test proto-cols for testing low-moisture content soybean seeds. Commercial seed lots of different seed composition were equilibrated to 0.07, 0.08, and 0.12 g H 2 O/g fw. Four offi cial testing media were used in the experiments: rolled paper towels (T), crepe cellulose paper (C), crepe cellulose paper covered with sand (CS), and sand germination (S). Soybean germination and emergence were affected by maturity group, seed composition, and fi eld conditions at planting. The testing medium and seed moisture content also infl u-enced germination in the laboratory, but seed moisture content did not affect fi eld emergence. These results suggest that soybean imbibitional injury caused by low-moisture seed lots occurs primarily in the laboratory. Seed analysts must consider soybean seed composition, moisture content, and their interaction with testing media when testing low-moisture content soybeans in the laboratory.N.A. LeVan, Syngenta Seeds, 810 N. 12th, Washington, IA 52353; A.S. Goggi, Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., 166 Seed Science Center, Ames, IA 50011; R. Mullen, Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., 1126 Agronomy Hall, Ames, IA 50011. Received 30 June 2007. *Cor-responding author (susana@iastate.edu).

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