e2-evaluation of agricultural value and germination · mormande cv., respectively. normal seedlings...

JKAU: Met., Env. & Arid Land Agric. Sci., Vol. 22, No. 1, pp: 19-30 (2011 A.D./14321 A.H.)

DOI: 10.4197/Met. 22-1.2

19

Evaluation of the Agricultural Value and Germination

Vigor of the Introduced Seeds of the Main Crops in Saudi

Arabia

Fathy S. El-Nakhlawy and Mohamed A. Shaheen

Department of Arid Land Agriculture,

Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture

King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract. This investigation was conducted to evaluate the main

introduced field and vegetable crop seeds in Saudi Arabia concerning

purity, germination, germination vigor and agricultural value. Two cv.

were studied from alfalfa, barley, millet, cucumber, pepper and three

cv. from tomato. The pure seed percentages were 97.21%, 99.10%,

96.14%, 98.25%, 95.81% and 82.14% for alfalfa Australian-S, alfalfa

Cuf 101, barley Gesto, barley Giza-2000, millet Indian and millet

African cv., respectively. Purity for vegetable cv. were 98.05%,

96.60%, 98.16%, 96.09%, 98.34%, 99.00% and 98.80%, for cucumber

Green Long, cucumber Beit Alfa, pepper California Wonder, pepper

Hot Arohein, tomato Super-Strain-B, tomatoes Five Stars and tomato

Mormande cv., respectively.

Normal seedlings under standard conditions and saline

irrigation water stress were 96.67% and 68.94% for alfalfa Australian-

S cv. respectively and 94.20% and 60.66% for barley Gesto cv.,

respectively, while in vegetable crops cucumber Green Long had

86.88% and 42.61%, respectively, pepper Hot Arahein produced

73.64% and 56.67%, respectively and tomato Five Star had 78.68%

and 42.17% for normal seedlings (%) under standard conditions and

salt stress condition, respectively.

Alfalfa Cuf 101 had the highest seed agricultural value

(94.38%) and millet African cv. had the lowest agricultural value

(62.98%) within the field crop cultivars. In vegetable crops cv.,

cucumber Beit Alfa cv. had the highest value (87.07%), while pepper

Hot Arohein had the lowest agricultural value (70.76%).

Keywords: Purity, pure seeds, germination, normal seedling, abnormal

seedling, germination vigor, agricultural value.

20 F.S. El-Nakhlawy and M. A. Shaheen

Introduction

Seed testing is one of the main simple techniques used to know the

viability of seeds (Jakum, 2005). Before seeds storage, especially

vegetable seeds, their viability must be ensured. This viability can be

treated using the germination test of seeds (Navarro, 1980). As for seed

vigor term, Tekrony (2006) stated that this term is more difficult than

seed viability, but it equals in importance with germination in the field or

green house. Germination vigor and viability are important and needed to

describe seed lots and prediction with the field or green house

germination. High relationship was found between lot seed tests and field

seed germination (Yaklich and Kulik, 1979, and Kolasinska et al., 2000).

In a study on tomato seeds, Demir and Ellis (1992) stated that tomato

maximum seed quality is attained at the end of the seed filling period and

seed viability and vigor begin to decline immediately. Foolad and Lin

(1999) found a significant correlation (0.89) between germination under

cold stress and non stress, also between salt and non salt stresses (r =

0.63). Ramana et al., (2002) stated that salt stress effect on seed

germination was highest on tomato, followed by onion and lowest effect

was showed on cucumber.

The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the introduced

seeds of three field crops (alfalfa, barley and millet) with two cv. in each,

and three vegetable crops, with two cv. in cucumber, pepper and three cv.

in tomato concerning seed purity, germination and germination vigor,

besides the agricultural values of these introduced seeds.

Materials and Methods

Three introduced field crop seeds and three vegetable crop seeds

with 2 cv. of each, except tomato presented with 3 cv., were tested for

their seeds purity, germination, germination vigor and agricultural values

during 2009 season. The studied cultivars are showed in Table 1.

Four seed tests were carried out for each cultivar, including purity,

germination, germination vigor and agricultural value tests. The previous

four tests were done according to AOSA (1996) and ISTA (2003)

procedures and roles. Each test was done in a completely randomized

design with four replications, and statistical analysis using analysis of

Evaluation of the Agricultural Value and Germination Vigor… 21

variance procedures and LSD test for mean comparisons was used as

described by El-Nakhlawy (2008).

Table 1. The studied cultivars of field and vegetable crops.

Crop Cultivars

Field Crops:

Alfalfa Cuf 101, Australian-S

Barley Gesto, Giza-2000

Millet Indian, African

Vegetable Crops:

Cucumber Green Long, Beit Alfa

Pepper California Wonder, Hot Arohein

Tomatoes Super Strain-B, Five Stars and Mormande

The purity test samples were separated into four components (pure

seeds, other crop seeds, weed seeds and inert matter). Germination test

results included normal seedlings, abnormal seedlings, hard seeds and

decayed seeds. Germination vigor was conducted on the pure seeds of

each cv. using saline irrigation water (10,000mg/L) as a stress treatment,

and the test results were normal seedlings, abnormal seedlings, hard

seeds and decayed seeds. Seed agricultural values were measured for

each cultivar in each replicate using this equation:

seed agricultural values = purity (%) × normal seedling (%)

Results and Discussion

Results of this study are classified into four parts, the first is

concerned with the purity test, the second for germination test and the

third shows the results of germination vigor, then the fourth is the

agricultural value of seeds for field and vegetable crop seeds.

Field Crops

Purity Test

Results of purity tests of cv. seeds of alfalfa, barley and millet crops

presented in Table 2, revealed significant differences between the

Australian-S and Cuf 101 cv. in other crop seeds, weed seeds and inert

matter while, no significant difference was shown between the two cv. in

pure seeds. Data of purity analysis showed that Cuf 101 cv. was

significantly increased than Australian-S cv. in seed purity

characterization, while the pure seeds were 97.21 and 99.10 for

Australian-S and Cuf 101 cv., respectively.


Table 2 also shows that Giza-2000 and Gesto cv. were not

significantly different in pure seeds, and their values were 96.14% and

98.25%, respectively. Giza-2000 was better than Gesto in other crop

seeds, weed seeds and inert matter. Comparison of Indian and African

millet cv. revealed that Indian cv. significantly dominated over the

African cv. in all purity test components. Indian cv. seeds had 95.81,

0.77, 2.21 and 1.21% for pure seeds, other crop seeds, weed seeds and

inert matter percentages, respectively. These results are confirmed with

those of Tekrony (2006).

Germination Test

Australian-S cv. and Cuf 101 cv. alfalfa seeds produced 96.67% and

95.24% normal seedlings, respectively without no significant difference.

Also, no significant differences were shown between the two cv. in hard

seeds (%) and decayed seeds (%), but Cuf 101 produced abnormal

seedlings (2.63%) more than Australian-S cv. (1.40%) with significant

difference (Table 2). As for barley cv., the results showed that Gesto cv.

significantly differed from Giza-2000 cv. producing 94.20% and 90.40%

for the two cv., respectively, as well as Gesto cv. had other germination

test components lower than Giza-2000 cv. Indian millet cv. germination

(%) was significantly more than the African cv. Also, Indian cv. had

lower abnormal seedlings, hard seed and decayed seeds (%) than African

millet cv. as shown in Table 2.

Germination Vigor

Under the saline water stress, normal seedling (%) of the two alfalfa

cv. were 68.94% and 65.80% for Australian-S and Cuf 101 cv.

respectively, but Cuf 101 cv. had abnormal seedling (%) more than

Australian-S cv. with 32.61% and 23.34%, respectively. Hard seeds were

higher in Australian-S cv. than Cuf 101 cv. (Table 2). Giza-2000 barley

cv. produced 70.46% normal seedling (%) and significantly more than

Gesto cv. (60.66%) under the saline water stress. Also, Giza-2000 cv.

seeds had lower abnormal seedlings (%) than Gesto cv. (30.41%). No

significant difference was found between the two barley cv. in hard

seeds, while no decayed seeds resulted in the two barley cv. seeds under

the germination vigor test. As for millet cv. germination under salted

water stress, African cv. produced the highest normal seedlings and

lowest abnormal seedlings (%) than the Indian cv. with significant

differences. Normal seedlings were 71.24% and 63.25% for African and


Indian millet cv. respectively, as presented in Table (2). These results are

similar to those reported by Jakum (2005) and Kolasinska et al. (2000).

Table 2. Means of purity, germination and germination vigor tests components (%) of

introduced alfalfa, barley and millet cultivar seeds.

Tests Components

Alfalfa Barley Millet

Australian-S Cuf

101 Gesto

Giza-

2000 Indian African

Purity Test (%)

Pure seeds 97.21 a* 99.10 a 96.14 a 98.25 a 95.81 a 82.14 b

Other crop seeds 0.74 a 0.14 b 1.16 a 0.19 b 0.77 b 5.94 a

Weed seeds 0.84 a 0.35 b 0.70 a 0.22 b 2.21 b 3.82 a

Inert matter 1.11 a 0.41 b 2.00 a 1.34 b 1.21 b 8.10 a

Germination Test (%)

Normal seedling 96.67 a 95.24 a 94.20 a 90.40 b 88.30 a 76.67 b

Abnormal seedling 1.40 b 2.63 a 2.00 b 3.20 a 3.35 b 6.70 a

Hard seeds 1.93 a 2.13 a 2.80 b 3.35 a 2.44 b 3.63 a

Decayed seeds 0.00 a 0.00 a 1.00 b 3.05 a 5.91 b 13.00 a

Germination Vigor Test (%)

Normal seedling 68.94 a 65.80 a 60.66 b 70.46 a 63.25 b 71.24 a

Abnormal seedling 23.34 b 32.61 a 30.41 a 21.20 b 20.64 a 17.33 b

Hard seeds 7.72 a 1.59 b 8.93 a 8.34 a 16.11 b 11.43 b

Decayed seeds 0.00 a 0.00 a 0.00 a 0.00 a 0.00 a 0.00 a

* Means followed by same letter within each crop are not significantly different according to LSD at P ≤ 0.05.

Vegetable Crops

Purity Test

The purity test results of the three vegetable crop cv. seeds presented

in Table 3, revealed that Green Long and Beit Alfa cucumber cv.

produced 98.05% and 96.60% without significant difference in the pure

seed (%), while in the other purity test components, Green Long cv. was

significantly less than Beit Alfa cv. Concerning pepper cv. No significant

differences were found between California Wonder and Hot Arohein cv. in

pure seed (%), other crop seeds (%) and weed seeds (%), but California

Wonder cv. had inert matter in it seeds less than Hot Arohein (Table 3). The

three tomato cv. were insignificantly different in pure seed (%), but

significant differences were found between them in the other purity test

results (Table 3). Pure seed percentages were 98.34%, 99.00% and 98.80%

for Super Strain-B, Five Stars and Mormande cv., respectively.


The previous purity test results of the seven vegetable cv. showed no

significant differences in purity (%), but inert matter (%) was

significantly different within each crop. These results might be due to the

cleaning procedures of seeds in the seed company concerning inert

matter. Also, weed seed (%) significantly differed within cucumber and

tomato cv. These differences might be due to the weed distribution in the

cv. field when left to flowering and seeds production besides weed seed

separation control during seed thieving and cleaning procedures.

Germination Test

No significant difference was found between Green Long and Beit

Alfa cucumber cv. in normal seedling (%). They produced 86.88% and

90.13%, respectively (Table 3). The two cv. significantly differed in

abnormal seedling (%) and hard seeds (%) where Green Alfa produced

4.42% and Beit Alfa produced 5.86% abnormal seedlings (%), but Beit

Alfa had hard seeds (%) less than Green Long, while no decayed seeds

resulted in the germination test (Table 3). Comparison between

California Wonder and Hot Arohein pepper cv. in germination test results

(Table 3) showed no significant difference between the two cv. in normal

seedling (%). Their values were 85.36% and 73.64%, respectively, while

California Wonder cv. produced abnormal seedling (%), hard seeds (%)

and decayed seeds (%) significantly lower than Hot Arohein pepper cv.

The germination test results of the tomato cv. revealed that Super

Star-B cv. was significantly more than the Five Stars and Mormande cv.

in normal seedlings (%) and the lowest in hard seeds among the three cv.

Normal seedlings (%) were 88.25%, 78.68% and 80.11% for the previous

cv., respectively (Table 3). These results are confirmed by the results of

Jakum (2005).

Germination Vigor Test

Results of vegetable crop cv. seeds germination under saline

irrigation water stress revealed adverse effects on normal seedling

(germination) percentage in all studied vegetable cv. (Table 3).

Comparison of the two cucumber cv., rvealed that Beit Alfa cv.

significantly increased in normal seedling (%) more than Green Long cv.

and their values were 51.35% and 42.61%, respectively. Also Beit Alfa

cv. had significantly lower abnormal seedlings (%) and hard seed (%)

than Green Long cucumber cv. As for pepper cv. seeds germination vigor

results (Table 3) showed no significant difference between California


Wonder and Hot Arohein pepper cv. in normal seedlings (%), where their

values were 61.75% and 56.67%, respectively. California Wonder cv.

produced 2.08% abnormal seedling (%), significantly lower than Hot

Arohein pepper cv. (9.69%). But the opposite was found for hard seeds

(%), where California Wonder cv. produced 36.17% and significantly

differed from Hot Arohein (33.64%), as shown in Table 3. Concerning

the response of germination test components under stress, Super Strain-S

cv. significantly dominated over the other two cv. in normal seedlings

(%), and was the best in lowest abnormal seedlings and hard seeds (%)

among the three studied cv., as shown in Table 3. Normal seedlings

percentages were 56.84%, 42.17% and 54.13% for Super Strain-S, Five

Stars and Mormaned cv., respectively. The results of germination vigor

test concerning the significant differences between the vegetable cv. in

their response to the stress condition during seed germination, might be

due to the genetic makeup of each cultivar, besides the genetic X stress

interaction effects. From these data, pepper California Wonder had the

highest stress tolerance, while cucumber Green Long and tomato Five

Stars cv. were the highest adversely affected during seed germination.

These results are similar to the results of Foolad and Lin (1999) and

Ramana et al. (2002).

Agricultural Value

Agricultural value of crop cv. seeds as shown in Table 4 revealed

that alfalfa cv. had the highest values without significant difference

between them. Their values were 93.45 and 94.38% for Australian-S and

Cuf 101, respectively. Within barley cv., Gesto had 92.55% and Giza-

2000 had 86.91%, with a significant difference between them. The lowest

agricultural value among the field crop cultivars was produced from the

millet African cv. (62.98%) and Indian cv. (84.60%), as shown in Table

4. As for vegetable crops, Beit Alfa cucumber cv. had 87.07%, while

cucumber Green Long had 85.19% agricultural values. California

Wonder pepper cv. had 83.79% and significantly differed from Hot

Arohein cv. (70.76%). Comparing tomato cv., Super Strain-S cv.

significantly dominated over the Five Stars and Mormande cv., where

their values were 86.79%, 77.89% and 79.15%, respectively. The

previous results about the agricultural values of the field crop and

vegetable crop cv. showed significant differences between them. These

results, might be due to their purity (pure seed and germinated, normal

seedlings), which depends upon cleaning, thieving and cleaning


procedures of seeds besides the efficiency of the cultural practices,

especially weed control in the seed production field before weed

flowering, as well as, the genetic makeup of each crop cultivar and their

interaction with environmental factors affecting seed setting and seed

germination under normal and stress conditions.

Table 4. Seed agricultural value of the studied cultivars of field crops and vegetable crops.

Crop Cultivar Seed Agricultural Value (%)

Field Crops:

Alfalfa

Australian-S 93.45 a*

Cuf 101 94.38 a

Barley Gesto 92.55 a

Giza-2000 86.91 b

Millet Indian 84.60 a

African 62.98 b

Vegetable Crops:

Cucumber

Green Long 85.19 b

Beit Alfa 87.07 a

Pepper California Wonder 83.79 a

Hot Arohein 70.76 b

Tomato

Super Strain-B 86.79 a

Five Stars 77.89 c

Mormande 79.15 b * Means followed by same letter within each crop are not significantly different according to LSD at P ≤ 0.05.

Acknowledgment: The authors greatly thank Deanship of Scientific

Research, King Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for

funding and helping to complete this research.

References

AOSA (1996) Rules for testing seeds. Journal of Seed Technology 16: 1B 113.

Demir, I. and Ellis, R.H. (1992) Changes in seed quality during seed development and

maturation in tomato. Seed Sci. Research 2: 81-87.

El-Nakhlawy, F.S. (2008) Principles of Statistics, Biostatistical Experimental Design and

Analysis. KAU Pub. Center. KSA.

Foolad, M.R. and Lin, G.N. (1999) Relationships between cold and salt-tolerance during seed

germination in tomato: Germplasm evaluation. Plant Breeding 118: 45-48.

ISTA (International Seed Testing Association) (2003) International rules for seed testing. Seed

Sci. Technol. 21: 466.

Jakum, B. (2005) Testing seeds for germination. The Master Gardner J. Available at:

www. Emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/2005/seeds.htm.

Kolasinska, K., Szyrmer, J., and Dul, S. (2000) Relationship between laboratory seed quality

tests and field emergence of common bean seed. Crop Sci. 40: 470-475.

Navarro, A. (1980) Some Tips on Saving Vegetable Seeds for the Home Garden. Gardeners

Factsheet No. 23.


Ramana, S., Biswas, A.K., Kundu, J., Saba, K. and Yadava, R.B.R. (2002) Effect of distillery

effluent on seed germination on some vegetable crops. Bioresource Tech. 82: 273-275.

Tekrony, D.M. (2006) Soybean seed. In: J.D. Bewley M. Black and P. Halmer (eds). The

Encycbpedia of Seeds: Science, Technology and Uses. CAB Int.

Yaklich, R.W. and Kulik, M.M. (1979) Evaluation of vigor tests in soybean seeds: Relationship

of the standard germination test, seedling classification, seedling length, and tetrazolium

staining to field performance. Crop Sci. 19: 247-252.


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