Effect of Accelerated Ageing on Germination and Vigor in Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) Seed

ABSTRACT

Seed lots of three lentil (Lens culinaris) cultivars (ILL 5883, ILL 7012 and Precoz), with similar production and storage history were aged for 1, 2 or 3 days at 40 ± 0.5°C and 100% relative humidity (RH). The effects of ageing were evaluated via standard germination tests, speed of germination, seedling dry weight, and vigor index. Of the three cultivars, ILL 5883 and Precoz retained their viability better than ILL 7012 after 1 day of ageing. ILL 5883 appeared to be the most tolerant of ageing conditions and its performance was consistently superior to that of the other two cultivars. The three-day ageing treatment severely damaged all seeds and led to a significant reduction in germination percentage in both ILL 7012 (1%) and Precoz (5%). Ageing for three days also significantly reduced vigor in ILL 7012: Values for indices of both speed of germination and vigor were 0.6 and 11.25 as opposed to 12.5 and 1439.61 in unaged seeds, respectively. In general, an increase in the duration of accelerated ageing was found to cause a progressive reduction in seed and viability.

Key Words:

• Lentil
• accelerated ageing treatments
• germination
• vigor tests