Seed treatment to improve seedling establishment in the anaerobic conditions

Abstract

Limited farm labor in swampy area encourage farmers to apply direct seeding method, however land conditions with excess water caused un-germinated seeds. The purpose of this research was to obtain seed treatments to increase seedling establishment in anaerobic germination conditions. The first experiment was laboratory trial arranged in a factorial design with two factors namely seed treatments and rice varieties. A total of 32 treatments along with control were tested on three rice varieties: Inpara 9 (swampy variety), IR 42 (AG-susceptible), and KHO (Anaerobic Germination/AG tolerant). The results showed that treated seeds show faster germination and has higher germination index. The second experiment was greenhouse trial to confirm the effectiveness of 12 best seed treatments from the first experiment. Water managements were conducted in anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Seeds on anaerobic conditions decreased seedling establishment, shoot length, root length, shoot dry weight, and root dry weight for 44.6, 28.1, 34.4, 80.7, and 74.2%, respectively. KHO showed better performance in anaerobic conditions. Treated seeds had better seedling establishment and seed growth in anaerobic conditions, except for hardening Trichoderma treatment. The best three seed treatments in anaerobic conditions were hardening H2O, thermo treatment 80 C+NaOCl, and hardening ascorbic acid.