Abstract:
Mechanical damage of seeds
due to harvest, handling and other process is
an important factor that affects the quality
and quaintly of seeds. Seed damage results
in lower grain value, storability problem,
and reduces seed germination and seedling
vigor and subsequent yield of crops. The
objectives were to determine the effect of
different levels of zinc sulphate fertilization
on the breakage susceptibility of three
irrigated wheat varieties (Bahar, Shiraz and
Pyshtaz). An experiment was conduct at the
Experimental research station of Lorestan
University, Iran. A factorial experiment was
conducted with three replicates in a
completely randomized block design
(CRBD). Factors included three levels of
zinc sulphate. Zinc sulphate treatments were
combinations of three fertilization rates (0 -
control, 25 and 50 kg/ha) at three replicates.
The harvested seeds were subjected to
impact energies of 0.05 and 0.1 J at constant
moisture contents of 9.8, 15 and 20% using
an impact test apparatus. The analysis of
variance showed that wheat variety,
fertilization level of zinc sulphate and
moisture content significantly influenced
breakage susceptibility of wheat seeds at the
1% probability level. Resistance to the
breakage of wheat seeds for all varieties
increased, as polynomial functions, with
increase in the zinc sulphate rate. The
average values of percentage breakage of
seeds decreased from 37.07 to 27.80% as
the fertilization level of zinc sulphate
increased from 0 to 50 kg/ha. Bahar variety
exhibited the highest resistance to breakage
than other varieties. As the moisture content
increased from 9.8 to 20% the percentage
breakage of seeds decreased from 36.58 to
30.03%. Increasing the impact energy from
0.05 to 0.1 J caused an increase in the
percentage breakage of seeds from 16.19 to
50.47%.
