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The effect of sowing pre‐germinated seeds of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) on seedling emergence
Author(s) -
GRAY D.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1978.tb00694.x
Subject(s) - germination , radicle , sowing , lactuca , seedling , biology , agronomy , horticulture , semis , water content , geotechnical engineering , engineering
SUMMARY Glasshouse and field experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of sowing both untreated and pre‐germinated seeds, with or without a gel carrier, and also pelleted seeds into soils of different moisture contents and at different temperatures on seedling emergence of lettuce cvs Cobham Green and Avondefiance. Pre‐germinated seeds with radicles 1–2 mm long gave, on average, 15 and 4% higher final percentage emergence than untreated and pelleted seeds respectively. Sowing pre‐germinated seeds having radicles longer than 2 mm gave more variable levels of emergence and often reduced emergence, particularly when they were sown into dry or drying seedbeds. Increasing the rate of gel carrier from 0 to 30 ml m _1 of row reduced emergence progressively from 67 to 30%. Pre‐germinated seeds emerged 2–5 and 3‐0 days earlier than untreated and pelleted seeds, respectively, at a soil temperature of 10 o C; at 15 o C the corresponding figures were 0–5 and 3–5 days. Sowing pre‐germinated seeds reduced the spread (i.e. variability) of emergence by an average of 37 and 47% compared with untreated and pelleted seeds, respectively.