Abstract:

In order to understand the effect of synergistic initiation of hydrogen peroxide and PEG on seed vigor, nine seed vigor indexes including seedling length (SL), root length (RL), germination potential (GE) and germination percentage (GP) and etc. of winter wheat cultivars after initiation were measured. The results showed that under the condition of 0.25%H₂O₂ soaking for 6 h and 10%PEG soaking for 4 h (treatment 3), the germination potential, germination index, seedling length and vigor index of ‘Chang 7170’ significantly increased by 18.4%, 30.2%, 26.1% and 48.4%, respectively, compared with those of the control (treatment 1); and the germination index, vigor index, root length and root weight increased by 20.7%, 16.2%, 13.6% and 22.8%, respectively, compared with those under 0%H₂O₂ soaking for 12 h and 0%PEG soaking for 12 h (treatment 2). The germination rate of ‘Chang 6388’ under 0.25%H₂O₂ soaking for 6 h and 10%PEG soaking for 4 h (treatment 3) was significantly higher than that of the control (treatment 1) and 0.5%H₂O₂ soaking for 6 h and 5%PEG soaking for 4 h (treatment 9); and the germination index increased by 12% compared with that under 0.5%H₂O₂ soaking for 12 h and 10%PEG soaking for 2 h (treatment 8). The comprehensive evaluation results (D value) showed that the seed vigor of the two cultivars was the highest under the synergistic initiation of treatment 3, which was 0.9482 and 0.8293, respectively. GGE biplot analysis showed that the germination potential, germination rate, germination index, vigor index and root length of the two cultivars were all good under the synergistic initiation of 0.25% H₂O₂ soaking for 6 h and 10%PEG soaking for 4 h (treatment 3), which could be used as the main indexes for identifying the vigor of wheat seeds.

Key words: wheat, hydrogen peroxide, PEG, synergistic initiation, seed vigor