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Rating of Alfalfa Varieties for Cold Resistance by Germination in Solutions of Different Osmotic Values 1
Author(s) -
Dovrat A.,
Waldman Miriam
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1967.0011183x000700010001x
Subject(s) - germination , biology , mannitol , drought resistance , agronomy , horticulture , osmotic pressure , botany , biochemistry
Seven alfalfa varieties differing in degree of winterhardiness were germinated in water and in 6‐atm mannitol solution (500 ml substrate) at 20 C in the dark. The delay in germination was expressed as the ratio between the rate of germination over the period at which most of the slope of the germination curve is near linear in the 0‐ and 6‐atm solutions, respectively. This ratio (R 0 R 0 value) was found to be closely related to the apparent winterhardiness of the varieties. The test enabled fair separation between 19 and 21 seed lots of ‘Ranger’ and ‘Vernal’ alfalfa, respectively. The lots represented different generations of increase and were derived from a wide latitudal range of seed production areas. However, all were from the same harvesting year.