Morphological characteristics and germination of P. dilatatum seeds following priming treatments

• Main Author: Christina, Binti Petrus
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2014
• Subjects: S Agriculture (General); SB Plant culture
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/28015/2/Christina%20Binti%20Petrus%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/28015/

A study was conducted to assess the morphological characteristics and to evaluate the effectiveness of primingtreatments in enhancing the germination of Paspalum dilatatum Poir. seeds. The average length, width and thickness of the P. dilatatum seeds, were 2.88mm, 1.87mm and 0.87mm respectively. The average weight for a single seed was 0.0023g and the seeds were said to be homogenous since the standard deviation of the seeds was less than 4.0, which are based on International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) when it is considerably less than the maximum of 4.0 the seeds are judged to be homogenous. This showed that the seeds used in this study were very small and light. Three types of priming used were hydropriming, thermopriming and chemopriming. Priming agent included tap water, water bath at 40°C, ascorbic acid and ethanol, were used to prime the seeds for periods of 0, 12, 18, 24, and 36 hours andtested for the moisture content and germination. Results showed that the highest moisture content percentage was 28.52% for hydropriming, thermopriming was 29.66% and chemopriming using ethanol was 29.42% and 29.04% using ascorbic acid. Thermoprimed seeds at 40°C gave the highest germination percentages than other treatments that was 95% at 24 hours period of priming. Generally, germination was increased and more uniform in all types of priming treatments which indicated that the seeds were exposed to favourable condition and achieved the best physiological state for germination.