Studies On Seed Vigour And Fungicide Treatment Of High Oil And Common Maize Hybrids

High oil maize is the new desirable corn type that was created by breeding. Compared with common corn, high oil maize hybrid has high oil content , rich nutritional and fairly good field performance, so it will be planted widely in China. In order to learn seed vigour and influence factors so as to provide some reference on seed vigour research and seed treatment of high oil corn, the accelerated ageing test was applied to treat the seeds of four high oil and common maize hybrids to analyze the difference and factors of seed vigour, the microflora of the aged seeds, and to study the effects of the carbendazim-maned fungicide treatment on the seeds. The results showed:1. The seed vigour levels of high oil and common maize hybrids varied on different vigour indexes. The ageing response values of high oil maize were lower than those of common maize in terms of germination percentages and germination index, but the same trend did not happen on seedling dry weight and vigour index. The ageing response value of Tongyoul with the highest oil content was lower than GaoyoullS on every index, demonstrating that the oil of the seed did not correlate with seed vigour in the high oil content.2. The seed dry weight decreased progressively after accelerated ageing, while oil content of high oil maize hybrids increased, and that of common maize hybrids decreased. The seed dry weight and the oil content of the seed were showed not to be the main factors for lowing seed vigour. Moisture content and fatty acid value were raised to a fairly high level after the accelerated ageing and they were the important factors for lowing seed vigour.3. Six types of fungi were detected on the aged seeds. The infection percentages increased and the infection degree got serious along with ageing. The results of the accelerated ageing and the artificial inoculation test showed that fungi infection could reduce the seed vigour.4. As compared with no fungicide treatment, the compound fungicide treatment of the seeds obviously slowed down the descending speed of germination percentages, germination index and vigour index of four hybrids, showed certain degreed of inhibitory effect on the seed seedling dry weight of Tongyoul and Guidan22 , and increased the seedling dry weight off Gaoyou115. The fungicide treatment kept theseeds away from fungus infection, slowed down the increasing speed of the moisture content of aged seeds, and made the aged seeds almost increase the fatty acid value. The fungicide treatment was useful for promoting the field emergence rate and the seedling quality. As a consequence, the carbendazim-maned fungicide treatment had a protective and promotive effect on the seed vigour of high oil and common maize hybrids alike.