The effects of storage on germination characteristics and enzyme activity of sorghum seeds

Seed moisture content (MC) and storage temperature are the most important factors affecting seed longevity and vigor. Exposure to warm, moist air is principally responsible for this. Proper storage and optimum seed moisture content can affect the grain quality significantly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the different storage treatments on seed quality of sorghum. The seed materials were fresh without any storage period. For storage treatments, 3 seed moisture contents (6, 10, 14 %) were stored for 8 month in 0.5 L capacity sealed aluminum foil packet in 0.3 bar inside incubators set at 4 temperatures (5, 15, 25, 35°C). After storage time, the higher the storage temperature, the lower was the grain quality of sorghum. The highest germination percentage, germination index, normal seedling percentage were achieved in control conditions (0 day of storage). Our results showed that increasing storage duration resulted higher reduction in germination characteristics. Also our results showed that, germination percentage, means time to germination, germination index, normal seedling percentage decrease significantly by storage. Enzyme activity decrease significantly by increased in storage.