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Published in Crop Sci 20:595-598 (1980)
© 1980 Crop Science Society of America
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Influence of Chemical Seed Treatments on Germination of Dormant Wild Rice Seeds1

E. A. Oelke and K. A. Albrecht2

Wild rice (Zizania palustris L.) seeds have a dormancy period of 3 to 5 months. This dormancy period can be partially broken right after harvest by dehulling the seeds and scarifying them. However, this is time consuming and the resulting seedlings are weak. The purpose of this research was to search for chemical means to decrease the dormancy period and increase the seedling vigor of wild rice.

Seeds which had been stored in water at 3 C for 120 days were soaked in 0, 28, 43, 57, 71, 86, and 95% ethanol for various lengths of time up to 24 hours. Germination was increased from 15% with no chemical treatment to 61% with a 7-hour soaking in 43% ethanol.

Seeds which had been harvested for 1 week were shaken in 95% ethanol for 15 sec, then in chloroform for 1 min and again for 15 sec in 95% ethanol. After treatment the seeds were stored in water at 3 C and germination samples taken over a period of 180 days. Germination at the end of 60 days was 42% for the treated seed compared to 16% for untreated seed.

Freshly harvested seeds were scarified by tumbling with granite grit for 60 min and then placed for 24 hours in all combinations of 0, 0.005, 0.05, 0.5, and 5.0 mM gibberellic acid (GA3) and 0, 0.063, 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 mM 6-benzyl adenine (BA). A combination of the highest concentration of both resulted in the highest germination after 21 days in water; 64% compared to 7% with no chemical treatment. However, seedling survival in the greenhouse, 51 days after treatment, was the highest with the lowest concentration of GA3 and the highest concentration of BA. Treating freshly harvested dehulled and scarified seed with 2.63% sodium hypochlorite for 2 hours increased germination from 2 to 19% and seedling survival from 50 to 87%, compared to no chemical treatment.

Pretreating wild rice seeds with ethanol in combination with chloroform can decrease the dormancy period without dehulling and scarifying seeds. Seedling vigor of scarified seeds can be increased by treating them with GA3 and BA.

Key Words: Zizania palustris • Ethanol • Chloroform • Gibberellic acid • 6-Benzyl adenine • Seedling survival

1 Contribution from Dep. of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, Paper No. 11,101, Scientific Journal Series, Minnesota Agric. Exp. Stn.

2 Professor and former research assistant, respectively, Dep. of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108.

Received for publication December 12, 1979.




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