Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Yi-Jing Chen, Chwen-Ming Yang, and Kai-Ying Chiu*

Abstract:

Previous studies have shown that growth regulators or some osmotic chemicals (such as salicylate) can be used in the osmotic treatment of seeds to increase the percentage and uniformity of germination and shorten the time required for germination, and even induce resistance to antibiotics and biotic stresses. This experiment was to use different concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) to osmotically treat the seeds of rootstock eggplant varieties ‘A105’ and ‘A108’, at 15℃ for future application. The results showed that the seed germination percentage (GP) of the control check (CK) of variety ‘A105’ reached 98.67%, and the value did not increase significantly after being treated with solutions of different concentrations of SA. The GP of CK seeds was only 74.67% for variety ‘A108’. After osmosis treatment with different concentrations of SA, the GPs were greatly increased, but no significant difference was observed among different concentrations. The mean germination time (MGT) of the two varieties was significantly shortened after SA treatment, in which ‘A105’ was shortened from 8.78 d of CK to 5.72 d under the treatment of 0.01 mM concentration, and the MGT of ‘A108’ was shortened from 11.99 d of CK to 8.97 d under the treatment of 0.05 mM. showing difference between varieties. With or without the osmosis treatment, the seeds of the variety ‘A105’ quickly absorbed water after soaking until reaching the saturation point in 12 h. There is no significant difference between the osmosis treatments and CK in the first 72 h, and a second wave of rapid water absorption occurred after 72 h. Seeds of the variety ‘A108’ also reached the saturation point at 12 h; however, there was no difference between the osmotic adjustment treatments and CK. No second wave of rapid water absorption appeared until 120 h. The value of leakage electrical conductivity (EC) of CK seeds of ‘A105’ increased rapidly after soaking in water, but decreased significantly after SA treatment. For CK seeds of ‘A108’, EC value increased slowly after soaking in water, and then began to decrease after 6 h. The soluble protein of CK seeds in ‘A105’ increased significantly after water immersion for 1 d, and increased again at Day 3. In contrast, the protein content of SA-treated seeds slowly increased until the seventh day. Without SA treatment, the protein content in seeds of ‘A108’ began to increase on the 1^st day after soaking, and did not increase until 7 d after immersion. In summary, osmosis treatment with SA solutions has a positive effect on the germination of the tested eggplant varieties, including increasing the GP, shortening the MGT, accelerating water absorption, reducing the value of leakage EC and increasing soluble protein of seeds. The varietal differences were found in these traits.

Key words:Osmotic treatment, Salicylic acid, Rootstock eggplant, Seed germination, Low temperature

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