Germination, seedling vigor and electrical conductivity of seed leachates as affected by dry heat treatment of tomato seeds.

摘要

Seed dormancy is a major problem in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Dry heat treatments at 40, 50 or 60 degrees C for 24 h were applied to assess their ability to break dormancy and invigorate seeds of four tomato cultivars ('Nagina', 'Pakit', 'Riogrande Improved' and 'Roma'). All the cultivars responded similarly. Dry heat treatments at 40 and 50 degrees C resulted in improved germination and seedling vigour compared to untreated seeds, with the highest vigour observed in seeds treated at 50 degrees C. However, seeds dry heat treated at 60 degrees C behaved similarly in terms of germination and vigour to untreated seeds. In all cultivars, seeds dry heat treated at 50 degrees C resulted in lower electrical conductivity of seed leachates, whereas the leachate conductivity of seeds dry heat treated at 40 degrees C was generally not as low.