The Effects of Physical Primings of Seeds on Agronomical Characteristics and Alkaloid Content of Datura

Abstract

To study the effects of physical seed primings on yield and alkaloid content of datura an experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications and 10 different treatments was conducted at the Agricultural Research Station of Islamic Aazd University, Tabriz branch, Iran, during growing season of 2013. Treatments of moist seeds were: ultrasonic treatment of seeds with a maximum of 3 watts, gamma and beta irradiations of seeds at 2 microcurie (µc) for 10 minutes, laser irradiation at 6328 angstrom (A°) and magnetic field of seeds with 40 microtesla (mt) each for 5, 10, 15 minutes respectively and control. Results indicated that seeds treated with gamma irradiation increased plant height over the control by 45%. Highest (206 g.m-2) and lowest (108.3 g.m-2) biological yields were produced when seeds treated with magnetic field for 10 minutes and laser for 5 minutes respectively. Similarly, highest (27.27 g.m-2) and lowest (14.96 g.m-2) seed yields were obtained by treating seeds with magnetic field for 15 minutes and ultrasonic respectively. Alkaloid content in the above ground plant parts was highest when seeds treated with gamma irradiation and lowest with the magnetic field irradiation for 5 minutes. It may be concluded that physical primings of seeds with magnetic field, gamma and laser irradiations would result in higher seed yields.

Keywords

• Alkaloid content
• Biological yield
• Magnetic field
• Seed yield
• Physical priming