Improvement of sweet corn (Zea mays var. Saccharata) seed germination using seed coating

In spite of optimal qualitative traits of sweet corn plant, its cultivation is limited due to some problems in germination, poor vigor, seed wrinkling and seedling weak establishment in the soil, using mineral compounds in seed coating could improve germination and seedling growth indices, and physical characteristics of sweet corn seeds. In order to improve efficacy of sweet corn seed using seed coating, this experiment was conducted based on three-factor factorial in a completely randomized design with four replications of 25 seeds at the laboratory at the Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Yasouj University, Iran, in 2018. The first factor included the concentrations of chitosan solutions (zero- 0.3% acetic acid, 0.5 and 0.75%), the second factor was gum arabic (zero- distilled water and 0.4%) and the third factor was V10K2.5P5 coating composition (10, 2.5 and 5 fold to seed weight respectively in Vermiculite (V), kaolin (K) and perlite (P)) and no coating treatment. The interaction effect showed that that the highest seedling length vigor index (183.24) was related to the coating treatment of gum arabic 0.4% and coating composition of V10K2.5P5 that had a significant difference with a treatment that had the lowest seedling length vigor index (85.70) from the coating treatment gum arabic 0.4% and no coating composition. The overall results showed that the coating treatment of chitosan 0.5% + coating composition of V10K2.5P5 + gum arabic 0.4% was more effective treatment on germination indices and seedling and physical characteristics of sweet corn seeds compared to other treatments.