Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.) seed quality as affected by type and duration of storage

摘要

The objective of this study was to investigate the germination capacity, field emergence andquality attributes of seed stored under a variety of storage types and used by farmers in the rainfed sorghum producing areas of Sudan as a seed source. Seeds were obtained from aconventional silo with limited controlled conditions, a brick wall warehouse, and a corrugated ironwarehouse ( Where seeds were stored for one and two years); a modern silo with controlledconditions and underground pits (Where seeds were stored for one year), and newly harvestedseed. The following tests were carried out: 100-seed weight, standard germination test, puritytest, viability (Tetrazolium) test, oil and protein content, percentage of seeds in different classes ofungerminated seeds, percentage of abnormal seedlings and field emergence. Seeds stored inbrick wall warehouse and traditional silo for one year showed significantly lower values of thetested attributes compared to seeds stored in the modern silo and newly harvested seeds.Storing the seeds in these two types of storage for a further year resulted in further significantdecreases in the tested characters. Seeds stored in corrugated iron warehouse for one year hadsignificantly lower test results compared to seeds stored in the traditional silo and brick wallwarehouse. Storing seeds for a further year in a corrugated iron warehouse resulted in the loss of60% of their viability and germination capacity. Also, the result revealed that seeds stored inunderground pits (matameer) for one year lost most of their germination ability (< 0.11) and theirviability (< 0.17) and may contain up to 30% inert matter and other seeds. Seeds stored in themodern silo had protein and oil contents similar to those of the newly harvested seeds, butsignificantly higher than all other types of storage. The significance of these results wasdiscussed.