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Corn seed germination test

Seed vigor

The concept of seed vigor is more difficult to describe than seed viability, but is equally as important for establishing seedlings in the field or greenhouse. Research in this area has established the importance of seed vigor on stand establishment and has begun to elucidate some of the underlying mechanisms for seed vigor.

Tomato seed germination test

Seed testing methodology

Seed testing for viability and vigor is essential for describing a seed lot and predicting its germination in the field or greenhouse. Studies in this area have led to the development of unique ways of testing seeds including parameters for stress tests like accelerated aging, cold test, conductivity and methods using digital imaging to provide reliable automated testing.

Related Publications:

      TeKrony, D.M. 2006. Soybean seed. In: J.D. Bewley, M. Black, and P. Halmer (eds.) The encyclopedia of seeds: science, technology and uses. CAB Int., (In Press).

      Woltz, J.M., Egli, D.B., and TeKrony, D.M. 2006. Corn seed germination and vigor following freezing during seed development. Crop Science 46: 1526-1534.

      Argyris, J., TeKrony, D.M., Hershman, D., Van Sanford, D., Hall, M., Kennedy, B., Rucker, M., and Edge, C. 2005. Fusarium head blight infection following point inoculation in the greenhouse compared to movement of Fusarium graminearum in seed and floral components. Crop Science 45: 626-634.

      Egli, D.B., TeKrony, D.M., Heitholt, J.J., and Rupe, J. 2005. Relationship between air temperature during seed filling and seed germination and vigor in soybean. Crop Science 45: 1329-1335.

      Geneve, R.L. 2005. Vigor testing in flower seeds. In: M.B. McDonald and F. Kwong (eds.). Flower Seeds, Biology and Technology. CAB International, London. p.p. 311-332.

      TeKrony, D.M., Schande, T., Rucker, M., and Egli, D.B. 2005. Effect of seed shape on corn germination and vigor during warehouse and controlled environmental storage. Seed Science and Technology 33: 185-187.

      Oakley, K., Kester, S.T., and Geneve, R.L. 2004. Computer-aided digital image analysis of seedling size and growth rate for assessing seed vigour in impatiens. Seed Science and Technology 32: 907-915.

      Wilson, T.T., and Geneve, R.L. 2004. The impact of film coating on initial water uptake and imbibitional chilling injury in high and low vigor sh2 sweet corn seeds. Seed Science and Technology 32: 271-281.

      Xu, Q., Belcastro, M.P., Villa, S.T., Dinkins, R.D., Clarke, S.G., and Downie, A.B. 2004. A second protein L-Isoaspartyl methyltransferase gene in arabidopsis produces two transcripts whose products are sequestered in the nucleus. Plant Physiology 136: 2652-2664.

      Siriwitayawan, G., Downie, A.B., and Geneve, R.L. 2003. Ethylene evolution is positively correlated with seed vigor in sweet corn and tomato seed lots with differing vigor levels but similar germination capacity. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 128: 608-614.

      Siriwitayawan, G., Dutt, M., Kester, S., Downie, B., and Geneve R. 2003. Ageing in tomato reduces the capacity of seeds to produce ethylene, while priming increases ethylene evolution during germination. In: G. Nicolas, KJ Bradford, D. Come and HW Pritchard, eds, The Biology of Seeds: Recent Research Advances CAB International, Wallingford, U.K. pp. 441-446.

      TeKrony, D.M. 2003. REVIEW: Precision is an essential component of seed vigour testing. Seed Science and Technology 31: 435-447.

      Geneve, R., and Kester, S.T. 2001. Evaluation of seedling size following germination using computer-aided analysis of digital images from a flat bed scanner. HortScience 36: 117-20.

      Hamman, B., Halmajan, H., and Egli, D.B. 2001. Single seed conductivity and seedling emergence in soybean. Seed Science and Technology 29: 575-586.

      TeKrony, D.M., and Spears, J. 2001. Seed Vigor Testing. In Seed Technologist Training Manual. (McDonald, M.B., Gutormson, T. and Turnipseed, B., Eds.) Society of Commercial Seed Technologists, Columbus, Ohio. p 11-1 to 11-20.

      Woltz, J.M., and Tekrony, D.M. 2001. Accelerated aging test for corn seed. Seed Technology 23: 21-35.

      Tang, S., Tekrony, D.M., Collins, M., and McKenna, C. 2000. Determination of high moisture in maize. Seed Technology 22: 43-58.

      TeKrony, D.M., and Hampton, J.C. (Co-editors). 1995. Handbook of seed vigour test methods. International Seed Testing Association.

This page was last updated on 10 June 2006. Please direct questions and comments regarding this page to ldirk@uky.edu.

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