ARS | Publication request: Seedling Vigor in Beta vulgaris: The Artistry of Germination

Submitted to: Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: May 15, 2009
Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Citation: McGrath, J.M., Naegele, R.P. 2009. Seedling Vigor in Beta vulgaris: The Artistry of Germination [CD-ROM]. 2009 Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report. Denver, Colorado: Beet Sugar Development Foundation.

Technical Abstract: Seedling vigor and stand establishment are two problems that growers have struggled with for decades. The initial conditions that a germinating seed encounters, and its ability to deal with them, affect the rate at which germination occurs, the rate of mobilization of stored energy reserves that the seedling uses to withstand adverse environments post emergence, and the overall ability of the seedling to survive. To understand differences in vigor, information on gene expression and imbibition of true (naked) seed and fruits was collected in the lab to begin creating a scaffold upon which vigor differences might be explained. Four varieties (two legacy, one cms and one commercial) were tested when germinated under stressed (H2O) or non-stressed (H2O2) conditions, both physically using imbibition data and genetically using gene expression data. Results demonstrated that the speed and number of seed that germinated for each variety were different, and the imbibition times were similar both in water and hydrogen peroxide. The weight of the true seed did not vary between varieties. Overall trends and patterns of varieties, when comparing them between treatments and time points, showed a range of patterns of expression for most genes tested.