Short-term aerated hydration for the improvement of seed quality in Brassica oleracea L

Abstract

AbstractSeeds of the Brussels sprouts cultivar Asmer Aries and the cauliflower cultivar Hipop were subjected to ageing at 20% moisture content and 45°C for 24 or 30 h, respectively; all seeds retained high germination after ageing. Aerated hydration of unaged and aged seeds of both cultivars for 4–8 h at a range of temperatures (10–30°C), followed by drying, resulted in improved performance, except that germination percentage and rate of cauliflower were lower at 10°C. Thus, all treated seeds showed greater germination rate and seedling root length than the control, which may have resulted from the advancement of the process of germination. The deleterious effect of aerated hydration at 10°C on cauliflower could be explained by damage due to rapid imbibition; seeds that had imbibed slowly to close to full imbibition (41% moisture content) before aerated hydration showed no decrease in germination. The improvement of aged seeds after aerated hydration was also revealed by higher germination after the controlled-deterioration test, which indicated less deterioration in treated seeds. Furthermore, the optimum improvements for all seeds were observed at 25°C and were greater when the water was aerated than non-aerated. These observations indicate the activation of metabolic repair processes during aerated hydration, leading to a reversal of the deterioration sustained during ageing.