Modeling Seed Germination Response to Salinity at Different Accelerated Aging Period in Canola

Canola is the second largely produced oilseed crop behind soybeans which is known as an important source of vegetable oil, being used in the food, feed, and biofuel feedstock. Seed aging is a serious problem in this plant particularly if the seeds are exposed to salinity stress during their germination stage. In this work, therefore, we applied both halotime and aging models to quantify the effect of the accelerated aging test period (AATP) and salinity (NaCl) on seed germination (SG) response of this plant. The seed moisture content (SMC) and electrical conductivity (EC) in response to AATP were also investigated. Based on our results, SG characteristics (i.e., germination percentage (GP) and germination rate (GR)) are significantly affected by AATP, NaCl, and their interactions (p 0.87). Based on the model parameters, the SG of canola was totally inhibited at 82.1 h AATP and 341.1 mM NaCl, respectively. Both SMC and EC increased significantly with the AATP, reflecting the loss of membrane integrity which is directly related to a decrease in SG and vigor. The parameters estimated in this study can be used for simulating canola SG as well as.