Impact of Mother Plant Saline Stress on the Agronomical Quality of Pepper Seeds
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Impact of Mother Plant Saline Stress on the Agronomical Quality of Pepper Seeds Carolina Pezo 1 & Samuel Valdebenito 1 & M. Fernanda Flores 2 & Eduardo Oyanedel 3 & Kooichi Vidal 1 & Alexander Neaman 4 & Patricia Peñaloza 1 Received: 15 June 2020 / Accepted: 11 August 2020 # Sociedad Chilena de la Ciencia del Suelo 2020
Abstract Seed quality has been an important factor in achieving high germination and uniform growth rates in agricultural crops. Meanwhile, pepper plants are moderately sensitive to salt stress at electrical conductivity (EC) in the nutrient solution in the range of 1.2–3.0 dS m−1. We are unaware of any studies regarding the effects of mother plant saline stress on the agronomical quality of pepper seeds. We assessed the effects of three levels of electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution used for mother plant fertigation (2.2, 3.5, and 4.5 dS m−1) on the agronomical quality of pepper seeds (Capsicum annuum L. var. California Wonder). We have analyzed the following seed quality traits: (1) size and weight of seeds and number of seeds per fruit, (2) seed germination and vigor, and (3) chemical composition and histological features of mature seeds. The electrical conductivity treatment of 3.5 dS m−1 caused a statistically significant reduction in the seed size and vigor, as well as partial histological damage to seed endosperm. Moreover, the electrical conductivity treatment of 4.5 dS m−1 caused further reduction in the seed agronomical quality and generalized histological damage to seed endosperm. The electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution used for the fertigation of mother pepper plants should be below 3.5 dS m−1. Future studies should be performed to better gauge the effect of nutrient solutions with electrical conductivity in the range of 2.2–3.5 dS m−1 on the seed quality traits. Keywords Salinity . Salt stress . Chilli . Chili . Germination . Seed vigor
1 Introduction Seed quality has been an important factor in achieving high germination and uniform growth rates in agricultural crops (Hussain et al. 2018). Seed quality depends on many factors including seed physiology and chemical composition Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-020-00325-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Patricia Peñaloza [email protected] 1
Escuela de Agronomía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Quillota, Chile
2
Sociedad Agroadvance Ltda., Peñaflor, Chile
3
Escuela de Ciencias Agrícolas y Veterinarias, Universidad Viña del Mar, Viña del Mar, Chile
4
Instituto de Ingeniería Agraria y Suelos, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Alimentarias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
(Copeland and McDonald 2001). In particular, germination and vigor are largely determined by the amount of mineral nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in seeds (Andreasen et al. 2014). For example, the quality of pepper seeds (Capsicum annuum L.) hinges not only o
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