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Characterization of water binding and germination traits of magnetically exposed maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.) seeds equilibrated at different relative humidities at two temperatures

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Title Characterization of water binding and germination traits of magnetically exposed maize (Zea mays L.) seeds equilibrated at different relative humidities at two temperatures
 
Creator Vashisth, Ananta
Nagarajan, Shantha
 
Subject Magnetic field
Seed water binding
Sorption isotherm
Seed leachate conductivity
Germination characteristics
Maize
Zea mays L.
 
Description 184-191
A study was undertaken to characterize the water sorption properties and enhancement in germination and seedling vigour of maize (Zea mays L.) seeds exposed to static magnetic fields of 100 mT and 200 mT for 2 and 1h, respectively. Water sorption isotherms were constructed for magnetically- exposed and unexposed seeds by equilibrating over different saturated salt solutions at 25 and 35°C. The germination and vigour parameters were evaluated for magnetically-exposed and unexposed seeds, equilibrated over the wide range of relative humidities (RHs) at 25 and 35°C. Moisture content increased with increase in RH and decreased with increase in equilibrium temperature. The germination and vigour reduced at high and very low humidities. Magnetically-exposed seeds maintained higher germination and vigour at both temperatures and all RHs, indicating the better quality of magnetically- exposed seeds. The leachate conductivity of magnetically-exposed seeds was lower than unexposed seeds at all RHs, suggesting better membrane integrity in magnetically-exposed seeds. Analysis of the isotherms using D’Arcy-Watt equation revealed that irrespective of the temperature, in magnetically-treated seeds weak binding sites were more and strong and multi-molecular binding sites were less compared to the unexposed seeds. Total binding sites were more in unexposed control seeds. The modification of binding properties of seed water and increased seed membrane integrity in magnetically-exposed seeds might have enhanced the germination traits and early seedling growth of maize.
 
Date 2009-05-01T04:31:45Z
2009-05-01T04:31:45Z
2009-04
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 0301-1208
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/4056
 
Language en_US
 
Publisher CSIR
 
Source IJBB Vol.46(2) [April 2009]