Development and Standardization of a Simple Technique for Breaking Seed Dormancy in Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.)

Abstract

Seed dormancy causes a great problem in efficient seed production of sunflower. Attempts have been made to develop simple techniques for breaking seed dormancy. In the first experiment, different techniques were evaluated using treatments such as a growth regulator, Ethrel, priming (water soaking followed by 2-3 days drying in shade), chemicals such as acetone (CH3COCH3), and potassium nitrate (KNO3) which showed the most promise. To confirm these findings, several treatments (25% acetone, 0.2% KNO3 and 24 h water soaking followed by drying) were further evaluated on 12 sunflower genotypes. Priming for 24 h in water is considered a simple and promising technique to break seed dormancy. This needs to be further confirmed using sunflower genotypes with different maturity groups and also with different periods of soaking in future experiments. © 2006, by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston. All rights reserved.