Effect of sowing date and harvest timing on seed vigour in garden pea (Pisum sativumL.)

Abstract

Quality parameters were measured in two seasons for seeds produced from early (sown November, harvested January) and late (sown December, harvested February) crops of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) 'Pania'. Harvest was by hand at 15% seed moisture content (SMC). Time of sowing had no effect on the germination of the seeds produced, but did affect seed vigour as both conductivity and hollow heart were greater in seeds from the November sown crop, and as a consequence, expected field emergence (EFE) was significantly lower. At a 40% SMC harvest in the second year of study, germination and conductivity did not differ between the two sowing dates and so the EFE also did not differ significantly. However as harvest was delayed until 25 and 15% SMC, there was a higher hollow heart incidence and higher conductivity in seeds from the early crop compared with the late crop. Seeds from the November sowing encountered greater climatic extremes (temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity) during their maturation in January than seeds from the December sowing which matured in February. Although the data are only from one cultivar at one site over two seasons, the results suggest that pea seed vigour and hence 'To whom correspondence is to be addressed. H93011 Received 5 March 1993; accepted 6 December 1993 potential field and storage performance could be improved by sowing to avoid detrimental climate effects during seed development and ripening.

Effects of the field environment before and after seed physiological maturity on hollow heart occurrence in garden pea (Pisum sativum)

“…Seed deterioration (loss of vigour and germination) following adverse climatic conditions is considered generally to occur after physiological maturity (pm) (powell 1988;Hampton 1999), and the results of Castillo et al (1994) are consistent with this. However, Halligan (1986) subjected seeds to high temperature well before pm.…”

“…Seed deterioration (the damage of cell membranes) is considered to begin at pm and continues after pm during harvesting, processing, and storage at a rate greatly influenced by genetic, production, and environmental factors (Hampton & TeKrony 1995). Therefore, post-pm environmental conditions have been a popular focus of research on loss of seed vigour (Castillo et al 1993b;Castillo et al 1994;Siddique & Wright 2004). However, hollow heart is also a factor influencing pea seed vigour, and the stage when peas are most susceptible to the disorder has not previously been clearly determined.…”

“…Since pea crops are sown in early spring when soil temperature may be low, it is important to use high vigour seed (Castillo et al 1994). Hollow heart is one factor associated with low vigour in pea seed (Hampton 1984).…”

“…34 a daily mean temperature of 25°C for 5 days, hollow heart was induced in over 20% of seeds. Castillo et al (1994) reported that hollow heart was induced when seeds were exposed to high temperature during maturation (i.e., as SmC reduced from 40% to 15%).…”

Seed germination and seedling growth of oilrape under saline stress conditions

“…Seed germination depends on the production year (Vujaković et al, 2014). Water stress, insufficient nutrients and extreme temperatures negatively affect seed germination (Castillo et al, 1994).…”