Crop response to hormone seed treatments
1943
Kiesselbach, T.A.
No significant benefits as to germination, seedling development, maturity, or yield were derived from any hormone seed treatment applied to open-pollinated corn, F1 hybrid corn, F2 hybrid corn, inbred corn, soybeans, oats, and barley. The two strongest naphthaleneacetic acid treatments (0.1 and 0.05% solutions) were distinctly toxic and harmful, curtailing germination, growth, and yield. Seed treatment with 100, 50, and 10 p.p.m. solutions of five respective hormones gave essentially equal results, and without superiority over the controls. This suggests that the use of still more dilute hormone solutions would not have altered the results. The commercial hormone dusts applied to the seed did not result in crop performance superior to that of the untreated controls or of the three more dilute hormone solutions. Hormone seed treatment in no way served to offset the comparatively low hybrid vigor of an open-pollinated variety, F2 hybrid, or an inbred line, and gave no evidence that such treatment could raise the productivity to the level of an F1 hybrid. There was no more tendency for favorable response by an ordinary variety of corn than by a standard first-generation hybrid. Judged by the outcome of these investigations and those reported in the literature, no hormone seed treatment can be recommended in Nebraska for any farm crop.
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