The effect of temperature, water content and composition of the atmosphere on the viability of carrot, onion and parsnip seeds in storage

Abstract

SUMMARYCertain vegetable seeds show such a marked loss of viability on storage that they are generally useless after 1–2 years storage under average commercial conditions; the most valuable seeds which store particularly badly are parsnip, onion and carrot. Storage experiments were therefore designed and set up to show the effect of the following factors on the viability of the seeds:(a) The water content as determined by the humidity of the atmosphere in which the seeds were stored.(b) Atmospheric conditions, viz. ventilated air, unventilated air and nitrogen.(c) Temperature.