Seed production characters and germination performance of reed canary grass in Finland

• Main Authors: M. SAHRAMAA, L. HÖMMÖ
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scientific Agricultural Society of Finland 2008-12-01
• Series: Agricultural and Food Science
• Online Access: https://journal.fi/afs/article/view/5665

Production of reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) seed in Finland may be of interest in the near future. Seed production characters of cultivars Palaton and Venture were studied between 1995 and 1998 at Jokioinen. Effects of harvest time on seed yield, thousand seed weight and seed germination were evaluated for 'Palaton'. Seed yield varied from 2 to 432 kg ha-1, being only 100 kg ha-1 on average. In the years of highest seed yields the optimum harvest time was 15 days after complete anthesis. At that time high seed yield was associated with a low proportion of shattered seeds and high thousand seed weight and good seed germination. In an additional experiment, the effect of storage temperature and storage time on seed germination were investigated for 'Venture'. Storage temperature had no significant influence on final germination, but warmer storage significantly speeded up germination rate as recorded after 7 days of germination. After 7 days the percentage of germinated seeds was also significantly higher for seeds stored for >10 months than with seeds stored for