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Relationships between Five Laboratory Stress Tests, Seed Vigor, Field Emergence, and Seedling Establishment in Reed Canarygrass¹

Field emergence and seedling growth from spring and summer plantings of 21 seed lots of reed canarygrass were compared with germination results from four stress tests (cold flood, hot flood, accelerated aging, and acid) and with the standard laboratory germination test. for the 21 seed lots, results of all tests were significantly correlated with each other and with field emergence and fall dry-top weight. Germination following either the hot flood test or the cold flood test was a better indicator of actual field performance than the standard germination test alone. Considering speed and convenience of testing as well as relation to field performance, a combination of standard laboratory gemination test and hot flood test was superior to either alone or to other test combination. The standard laboratory germination test percentage multiplied by 0.33 provided a fairly adequate evaluation of field emergence, somewhat underestimating emergence under relatively favorable environmental conditions and slightly overestimating emergence under less favorable environmental conditions. Seed lots which were comparable in germination on the standard germination test and which were no more than a year old were variable in vigor and in field performance. In contrast, seed lots 3 or more years old were consistent in performance on the several tests although their vigor was reduced compared to seeds 1 year old.

Key Words: cold flood test • hot flood test • acid test • germination test • growth index

² Former Graduate Student and Associate Professor, respectively, Department of Agronomy, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802. J. L. Mark's present address is, Henderson Settlement, Frakes, Kentucky, 40940.

Received for publication July 7, 1967.