Embryo excision versus longitudinal cut in tetrazolium viability determination of cereal seeds
1996
Kruse, M. (University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart (Germany). Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics)
Results of a comparative test on germination and viability of six samples of wheat and barley involving 13 participating stations are presented. These demonstrate the equivalence of the two preparation methods "longitudinal cut" and "embryo excision" in tetrazolium testing of cereal seeds for the practical purposes of seed testing. Furthermore, the results showed the well-known higher viability by tetrazolium testing than germination in samples infected by pathogens or acceleratedly aged. Blind replicates within the stations showed that there was a higher precision in germination testing than in either of the two tetrazolium testing methods. Using a very detailed evaluation scheme with 13 different classes, advantages were found for the embryo excision method in assessing the viability of the root tip and the scutellum. The results obtained by the respective standard TZ preparation method of the stations showed a higher accuracy than the results obtained by the method that the stations had first to learn prior to conducting the test. However, the experience of the stations with tetrazolium testing, as indicated by the number of samples tested per year, showed no significant correlation to the accuracy of viability determinations. It must be assumed that it is rather the individual diligence and stringency in evaluation which determines the accuracy. The dependence of the coefficient of correlation on the range of the viability results and on the sample size is discussed, because this dependence may impair the appropriateness of correlation analysis for testing the equivalence of methods
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