EFFECT OF SEED SIZE, PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS AND SOME CHEMICAL MATERIALS ON GERMINATION CHARACTRISTICS AND SEEDLING VIGOUR OF RICE (Oryza sativa L.) SEEDS

Abstract

In order to evaluate the effect of seed size, plant growth regulators and some chemical materials on seed vigour and seedling growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.) an experiment was conducted in 2015 at Laboratories of Agriculture and Marshes College, University of Thi-Qar. Factorial experiment in CRD was used with four replications in two factors. The first factor included three seed sizes (4.6-5.1, 5.2-5.7 and 5.8-6.3 mm). The second factor was seeds soaking treatments (KNO3 6 g.l-1, CaCl2 20 g l-1 , salicylic acid 20 mg l-1, cytokinin 40 mg l-1, gibberllic acid 400 mg l-1 , ascorbic acid 40 mg l-1 and seeds soaked in distilled water). The results showed that the largest seed size influenced significantly and gave the higher averages of germination percentage in ageing acceleration test , germination speed index, germination percentage, radical length, plumule length and seedling vigour. The seeds rice that were soaked with gibberellic acid gave the higher averages of germination percentage in ageing acceleration test, germination speed index, germination percentage, radical length, plumule length and seedling vigour. The largest seed size which was soaked with gibberellic acid gave the higher averages of germination percentage in ageing acceleration test, germination speed index, germination percentage, radical length, plumule length and seedling vigour.