engleski

Effect of storage time on alfalfa seed quality

The commercial alfalfa seed (Medicago sativa L.) is often stored for two or more years. The researches are mainly conducted with the aim of determining the viability of alfalfa seed stored under controlled conditions (constant temperature and air moisture). As commercial seed is most often kept under uncontrolled conditions, the aim of our researches was to determine seed variability after 2, 4 and 8 years of storage. The research was conducted with three recognized Croatian alfalfa cultivars which were harvested and stored in 1994. The years of storage had signifi cant effect on the proportion of germinated, dead and hard seeds. Under uncontrolled conditions the proportion of hard seeds decreased with the storage time and maintained the seed usable for commercial purposes (70%) until the fourth year of storage. The used cultivars showed signifi cant differences in germination and proportion of hard seeds during the storage time, while the proportion of hard seeds had signifi cant cultivar x storage time interaction. OS-90 cultivar had the highest germination after eight years of storage and the lowest proportion of hard seeds. The results indicate that the proportion of hard seeds is a cultivar trait which is not related to the length of seeds’ viability.

alfalfa ; germination ; hard seed ; seed storage

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