ABSTRACT:
As part of a research program to hasten late-fall establishment of a winter cover following potatoes, the use of pregerminated seed of winter rye (Secale cereale) relative to natural seed was investigated in three phases. Phase 1 comprised a pot experiment in a controlled environment to test for an advantage of pregerminated seed in shoot and root growth as cover performance parameters. Phase 2 was a hand-seeded field-plot experiment to confirm the advantage. Phase 3 was a machine-seeded field experiment to test this advantage in a system of simultaneously seeding rye and digging potatoes. In Phase 1, pregermination showed a significant 20% advantage in shoot length. In Phase 2, pregermination showed an advantage of 144% to 175% in shoot dry weight, 82% to 157% in root dry weight, and 56% to 136% in leaf area. In Phase 3, however, natural seed outperformed pregerminated seed in all parameters. The results of Phase 3 were considered to be a biological anomaly, caused possibly by damage done to the germinating seed during handling and seeding.
Footnotes
Linnell M. Edwards is a soil scientist with the Research Station, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Box 1210, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, CIA 7M8. Gary B. Hergert is a mechanization specialist with the Engineering and Statistical Research Centre, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6. This article is contribution No. 627. Agriculture Canada, Charlottetown Research Station, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; contribution No. I-963. Engineering and Statistical Research Centre, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa.
- Copyright 1990 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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