Seed quality of domestic alfalfa cultivars

Abstract

The complete application of modern cultural practices in alfalfa seed production and high-quality seed processing secure high values of alfalfa seed quality. The seed of the alfalfa cultivars NS-Banat ZMS II and NS-Mediana ZMS V was studied over a period of eleven years (1990-2000) and very high values of all the significant parameters of quality were found. The average seed purity was 99,7% (Tab. 1). The main reason for such a small variation of seed purity according to the year (99,4-99,9%) was the standard quality of the seed processing. The impurities that were found in the seed were mostly inert substances (0.3% on average). No seed of other crop species was found, while the seed of weeds was present only in traces. Seed viability ranged from 74 to 87% (Tab. 2) due to different weather conditions in the study years, especially at pollination period, fertilization, and seed formation and maturity. The average proportion of atypical seedlings was 8% and the proportion of hard seeds was very low (5%). The contribution of dead (nongerminated) seeds was 5%. The average 1000-seed mass of both cultivars was 2.1 g, with 2.0-2.3 g fluctuations over the years (Tab. 3). Seed moisture content was very low 8.1% on average (5.5-10.5%) depending on the weather conditions during a particular year.

Ispitivanjem semena lucerke, sorti NS-Banat ZMS II i NS-Mediana ZMS V, u toku jedanaestogodišnjeg perioda (1990-2000) utvrđene su vrlo visoke vrednosti svih značajnih pokazatelja kvaliteta. Prosečna čistoća semena iznosila je 99,7%, sa malim variranjem po godinama od 99,4 do 99,9%. Pri tome, najveći deo primesa činile su inertne materije 0,3%, dok je seme korova bilo prisutno u tragovima. U zavisnosti od vremenskih uslova godine, klijavost semena varirala je od 74 do 87%, prosečno je iznosila 82% kod obe sorte. Sadržaj atipičnih ponika bio je 8%. Udeo tvrdih semena bio je nizak, prosečno 5%. Masa 1000 semena kod obe sorte iznosila je 2,1 g, dok je prosečan sadržaj vlage bio 8,1%.