Moistening of the substrate and temperature on germination and vigor of melon seeds

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate different volumes of distilled water and substrate temperatures on germination and vigor of melon, cucumber variety. The experiment was conducted at the Laboratory of Seed Analysis Unimontes in the period february to april 2012. Sowing was done on paper rolls like “germitest” moistened with volumes (mL) of distilled water equivalent to 1.0; 1.5; 2.0; 2.5 and 3.0 times the weight of dry substrate without further addition of water, with three sheets per roll. The rolls were kept in germination preset constant temperatures of 25 to 30°C and 20-30°C alternate. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial 5 x 3 (distilled water volume an temperatures), with four replicates of 50 seeds. We evaluated the germination percentage, germination velocity index, root length and shoot, fresh and dry weight of seedlings. Given the results, it is concluded that combinations of substrate distilled water volume and temperature of exposure that provide better answers on germination and vigor of melon seeds, cucumber variety, are 1.0 times the weight of dry substrate at a temperature of 30ºC and 3.0 times the dry weight of the substrate 25 and 20-30°C. Among the studied temperatures, the temperature of 30°C promotes better responses in all variables, is recommended as an additional temperature to evaluate the physiological quality of melon seeds.