Effect of Seed Soaking Time on Germination of Maize (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

Higher germination percentage is the key factor in higher crop production. Thus, strategies were made to increase the germination percentage of the seeds. One of the best strategies to enhance the germination percentage was soaking seeds in water before sowing. This experiment evaluated the best soaking duration (in hours) to enhance the germination and seedling of maize cultivars. Pot experiment was conducted under Latin Square Design (LSD design) with two factors. Factor one was genotypic variety of Maize while other factor was duration of soaking seeds in water. Soaking duration was maintained at 12 hours, 24 hours and 36 hours along with the control treatment (0 hour or without soaking), each with three replications. Other factor was high yielding cultivars Pearl, MMRI-Yellow and Sahiwal-2002. Results showed that maximum germination percentage (99%) was found in MMRI-yellow cultivar of Maize soaked at 24 hours of duration followed by 94% germination soaked at 36 hours, 87% germination at 12 hours soaking time and 69% germination rate at 0 hour soaking, respectively. Results clearly revealed that optimum soaking duration was 24 hours instead of 36 hours although 36 hours soaking showed second best result on MMRI-yellow variety. Results also showed that optimum soaking time (24 hours) was the best soaking time among 36 hours, 12 hours and showed significantly better results.