Time to radicle protrusion does not correlate with early seedling growth in individual seeds of impatiens and petunia

Manjul Dutt, Robert Geneve

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Impatiens (Impatiens wallerana Hooker F.) and petunia (Petunia xhybrida Hort. Vilm.) seeds were imaged using a flat-bed scanner interfaced with a personal computer programmed to capture images every hour. Images were used to measure time to radicle protrusion and seedling growth. Time to radicle protrusion was calculated as time to 50% germination or as actual germination for each seed. Seedling growth after germination was calculated from linear regression of growth over time. Radicle protrusion and seedling growth were evaluated as indicators of seed vigor. Both were good indicators of seed vigor in impatiens seed lots. These measurements of vigor were highly correlated for each impatiens seed lot and for pooled seed lots. However, there was little or no correlation between time to radicle protrusion and seedling growth on an individual seed basis. The relationship between germination speed and seedling growth rate observed in impatiens was confirmed in two petunia seed lots. This study supports the use of time to radicle emergence and seedling growth as good indicators of seed vigor. However, it appears that different aspects of seed vigor may be measured by these indicators because there was no relationship between time to radicle protrusion and seedling growth rate on an individual seed basis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)423-428
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Volume132
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2007

Keywords

  • Digital images
  • Flat-bed scanner
  • Impatiens wallerana
  • Petunia xhybrida
  • Seed vigor
  • Sequential imaging

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics
  • Horticulture

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