Effect of storage temperature and moisture content on the seed’s quality of Agropyron cristatum

Seed germination of Agropyron cristatum and its physiological and biochemical characteristics during germination were studied to understand the effects of the 10-month storage condition on the seed vigor. The results revealed that storage temperature and moisture content had extremely significant effects on the germination rate, root and bud lengths of A. cristatum(P<0.01), while MDA was not significant. The greatest seed germination rate of A. cristatum was 79.8% under the storage temperature of -15 ℃ with 6% of seed moisture content. No germination occurred at all when the seeds were stored at the temperature of 20 ℃ with 12% moisture content in the seeds. The greatest root length of A. cristatum was observed under the storage temperature of 4 ℃ with 6% of seed moisture content; The greatest bud length was observed under the storage temperature of -15 ℃ with 12% of seed moisture content. The shortest root and bud lengths of A. cristatum was observed under the storage temperature of 20 ℃ with 6% of seed moisture content. The greatest conductivity of A. cristatum was observed under the storage temperature of 20 ℃ with 12% of seed moisture content. While the least conductivity was observed under the storage temperature of 4 ℃ with 4% of seed moisture content(P<0.01). By analyzing the relationship between different vigor indexes of A. cristatum, we found that the relationship between root length and bud length showed extremely significant correlation(P<0.01). The relationship between root length and conductivity showed significant correlation(P<0.05), while other indexes were not significant. Taking all the vitality indexes into account, the optimum moisture content of A. cristatum was 4%~6%, the optimum storage temperature was -15~4 ℃.