Seed treatment for maintaining vigor viability and productivity of sugar beet beta vulgaris
Basu, R.N.; Dhar, N.
Seed Science and Technology 7(2): 225-234
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0251-0952
Accession: 006378858
The deterioration of sugar beet (B. vulgaris) seeds under warm-humid conditions could be effectively controlled by soaking the stored clusters in 5 times the volume of water for 6 h followed by drying back to the original weight before re-storage. Soaking in dilute solutions of a range of chemicals, e.g., sodium phosphate (monobasic, 10-4 M), sodium thiosulfate (10-5 M), tannic acid (10-5 M) and several others did not show any significant improvement over water. The field emergence and productivity of plants raised from seeds, stored under ambient conditions for 3 mo. after treatment, were significantly greater than those from the untreated control seeds. The weight of roots from sodium phosphate (monobasic, 10-4 M) and EDTA (10-4 M) treatments even exceeded that of plants grown from control seeds stored during the corresponding period in a desiccator over fused CaCl2.