Iranian Journal of Seed Research

To study the effect of production region and seed size on germination indices and heterotrophic growth components of peanut seedling, a study was performed in three peanut fields in Astaneh Ashrafieh and Agronomy Laboratory of Rasht Islamic Azad University from 2010 to 2012. This research was carried out using the standard germination, cold and accelerated aging tests. Tests were performed using factorial experiment with a completely randomized block design in 3 replications. The first factor was seed production region in 3 levels (Noghredeh, Amshal and Bandar-Kiyashahr) and the second factor was seed weight in 3 levels [large, medium and small]. The results indicated that the effect of production region on the germination speed (p<0.01) and coefficient of uniformity of germination (p<0.05) was significant so that the maximum means (6.17 and 18.11 day^-1, respectively) were achieved in seeds produced in Amshal. The effect of the interaction of the region and seed size on the mean germination speed was significant so that the maximum mean (282.22) was achieved in large seeds produced in Amshal. The effect of production region on the seed reserve use rate was significant in standard germination (p<0.01) and cold tests (p<0.05). The effect of seed size on the seed reserve use rate and seed use reserve fraction were significant (P<0.01) in all the three germination tests. The maximum amount of seed reserve use rate was achieved in seeds produced in the Amshal region (in standard and cold tests with averages of 0.562 and 0.440, respectively). In addition, the maximum amount of seed reserve use rate was achieved in large seeds (with averages of 0.541, 0.470 and 0.277 mg per seed in standard, cold and aging tests, respectively). The maximum seed use reserve fraction was achieved in small seeds (with averages of 1.371, 1.310 and 1.664 in standard, cold and aging tests, respectively).

 

Highlights:

1. Peanut seed germination tests were performed based on seed production regions and seed sizes.
2. Three different vigour tests (standard, aging, cold) were used to identify higher quality seeds.
3. Germination indices indicated high quality in large seeds produced in different environmental conditions.
4. Large seeds had the maximum seed reserve use rate and minimum seed use reserve fraction at the germination stage of peanuts.