• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.721-730
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• 2002

This study was carried out to select new pelleting binder and material for Welsh onion seeds. The optimum treatments of the various plant growth regulators to improve seed germination of the Welsh onion was also estimated. There were no significant effects of growth regulators on the germination percentage, but germination was faster according to the number of days to 50% of the final germination ($T_{50}$) and the mean number of days to germination (MDG) than those of the control. Germinability was increased when the seeds were soaked in gibberellic acid ($GA_3$) solution for 24hrs, even though there was no synergy effect on the germinability when $GA_3$ was mixed with 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). The optimum treatment for improving germination of Welsh onion was observed when the tested seeds was soaked in 500 $\mu$M of $GA_3$ at $20^{\circ}C$ for 24hrs. Also, when the seeds soaked in the aforementioned treatment, the rate of germination was increased at lower temperature than at $20^{\circ}C$, the optimal temperature. The percentage and the speed of seed germination depended on the kinds of pelleting binder and their concentration. It showed that the higher the concentration of the binder for seeds pelleting, the lower the percentage of seed germination. Among the pelleting binder, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) were the best binders for seed pelleting, because seed germination using those binder did not affect on the concentration of binder. On the other hand, Carboxymethy cellulose (CMC) and methyl cellulose (MC) severely inhibited the seed germination The germinability was also different arcording to the pelleting materials. Among the different 58 pelleting materials, kaoline alone, the mixture of bentonite and kaoline, the mixture of bentonite, calcium carbonate and diatomaceous earth #300 were found as the best pelleting materials for welsh onion seeds.