Effects of Irradiated Carrageenan Biostimulant and Water-Based Enhancements on the Germination and Seedling Performance of Commercial F1 Hybrid Tomato

Abstract

Seeds of commercial F1 hybrid tomato varieties Fantastic F1 and Diamante max F1 were subjected to water and irradiated carrageenan biostimulant (ICB) treatments. It was aimed at determining the efficacy of the different treatments and the response of hybrid tomato seeds as measured by different germination and seedling quality indicators. Results showed that treatments significantly improved all indicators for Diamante Max across treatments. Similar results were obtained for Fantastic except for percent germination and germination index, which were not statistically different across treatments. ICB treatments were generally better than water treatments, though increasing rate of ICB showed reduction in improvement. Nonetheless, 1% ICB solution yielded the maximum values across indicators in both seed lots. In comparison to untreated seeds, 1% ICB differed by 8.80% - 183.56% on Diamante Max and 6.25% - 78.2% in Fantastic across indicators. Thus, ICB based seed priming was shown to improve germination and seedling indicators in hybrid tomato varieties. While some inconsistent observations were attributed to experimental limitations. Recommendations are forwarded.