Effect of grain weight on germination and seed vigor of wheat

Abstract: Thousand grain weights is one of the important scales in seed quality that influence on germination, seed vigor, seedling establishment and yield. In order to study the effect of thousand grain weight on germination and seed vigor of bread wheat, an experiment was conducted in seed technology laboratory of Tehran University in 2006. In this experiment, at first stage, the seeds separated by horizontal step, vertical step and frequency parameters of gravity separator set. In second stage, 10 treatments of thousand grain weight entered in standard germination test and seedling growth test in CRD design with 4 replications. In this experiment, in standard germination test traits of seed germination percent, germination rate and mean of germination time and in seedling growth test traits of seedling length and seedling dry weight have been measured. The results showed that in standard germination test, thousand grain weight had not significant effect on germination percent, germination rate and mean of germination time. In seedling growth test, thousand grain weights had significant effect on seedling lengths and seedling dry weight. Also, comparison of means revealed that in trait of seedling dry weight, maximum amount (0.02g) related to maximum of thousand grain weight and minimum amount (0.016g) belonged to minimum of thousand grain weight. Generally, use gravity separator for seed separating and heavier grains for planting seeds could be recommended.