Effect of storage conditions on seeds vigor, growth, and grain yield in bread wheat Varieties

• Hanan A.Ghazi1*,Mundher Kh. Jabbar2*,Saddam H.Cheyed3*

  Author

Two experiments were conducted, one laboratory experiment and the other a field experiment. The first experiment was conducted in 2025 in Babylon Governorate at two locations: the first at the Seed Testing and Certification Directorate – Babil Branch, and the second at the Mesopotamia Company – Babil. The second field experiment was conducted at the experimental field of the Department of Field Crops, College of Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green University, located south of Hillah City, Babylon Governorate. The above experiments aimed to investigate the effect of storage conditions and cultivars on seed vigor, growth, and grain yield of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

The laboratory experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), whereas the field experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD).

The experiments included two factors. The first factor comprised three storage conditions: refrigerated storage, incubator storage, and storage in wheat seed warehouses. The second factor comprised three wheat cultivars: IPA 99, Buhuth 22, and Sham 6.

The results demonstrated the superiority of refrigerated storage across most of the studied traits, recording the highest means for germination percentage, seedling dry weight, flag leaf area, number of spikes, and number of grains per spike, compared with incubator and warehouse storage. The effect of cultivars also revealed the superiority of the IPA 99 cultivar for most of the studied traits, although the cultivars differed in their responses to storage conditions. The interaction between storage conditions and cultivars had a significant effect on several traits, with IPA 99 under refrigerated storage exhibiting superior performance for some traits, whereas other combinations recorded the lowest values under incubator storage. These findings highlight the importance of the interaction between cultivar and storage conditions in maintaining seed viability and its subsequent effects on growth traits and yield components.

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