Back to Contents

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

RESPONSE OF WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) VAR. CHAKWAL-97 TO ARTIFICIAL AGEING IN RELATION TO ITS VIABILITY UNDER MID-TERM CONSERVATION IN GENEBANK

ASJAD ALI, SADAR UDDIN SIDDIQUI*, M. AFZAL* AND M. FAYYAZ CHAUDHARY

Abstract: Wheat is most important among cereal crops in terms of area and production and is a staple food for more than one third of the world's population. Seed storage for germplasm conservation is a big problem, as viability is decreased even under the optimal storage conditions in the genebank. About 85% viability is minimum requirement to store seeds in the genebanks for conservation purpose. Seeds of some plant species loose viability faster than others and there may be varietal responses within species. Artificial seed ageing (AA) is used to check seed viability and germinability potential. The objective of the present study was to determine the affect of artificial seed ageing on seed viability, while outlining the contribution of different factors like temperature and moisture in seed ageing. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) var. Chakwal-97 with two types of seed initial moisture contents i.e. low (LMC) and high (HMC) was used as experimental material. Treatments comprised of three temperature regimes (40, 50 and 60oC) each with 4 types of incubation durations (24, 48, 72 and 96 h). Two type of relative humidity (RH) [ambient (low) or high up to 100%] was maintained in seed containers during incubation. Between paper towel (BP) method was used for germination at 25 oC (± 2) under light conditions to check the seed viability after artificial ageing. It was concluded by visualizing the germination behavior of artificially aged seeds of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) variety Chakwal-97 that the viability decreases with the increase in AA incubation temperature. Incubation of seeds under high relative humidity (RH) has more effect in decreasing the seed viability than low RH. Under high RH the seed viability decreases with increase in incubation period.

Department of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
* National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan. Email-ssadar@hotmail.com