Effect of acid stress on germination and early seedling growth of red clover

The aim of this investigation was to estimate the effect of four pH levels of germination media (4, 5, 6 and 7) on seed germination energy (GE), germination (G), percentage of dead or infected seeds (DIS), percentage of hard seed (HS), normal (NS) and abnormal seedlings (AS), root length (RL), shoot length (ShL), seedling length (SeL), fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) of seedling, and seedling vigor index (SVI) in two red clover genotypes (cv. K-17 and cv. Kolubara). The experiment was conducted in the laboratory conditions of the Institute for Animal Husbandry in Belgrade in January 2011. The pH levels of germination media had significant effect on the NS (P (lt) 0.01), AS (P (lt) 0.01), RL (P (lt) 0.05), ShL (P (lt) 0.01), SeL (P (lt) 0.01), FW (P (lt) 0.01) and SVI (P (lt) 0.05). The lowest GE, G, NS, ShL, SeL, FW and SVI were found at pH 4. Also, the highest DIS, HS and AS were found at pH 4. The genotype had significant effect on HS (P (lt) 0.01), RL (P (lt) 0.01), ShL (P (lt) 0.01), SeL (P (lt) 0.01), FW (P (lt) 0.01) and SVI (P (lt) 0.01). Genotype and pH levels of germination media did not affect on GE, G, DIS and DW significantly. Cilj istraživanja bio je da se odredi uticaj različitih nivoa pH vrednosti (4, 5, 6 i 7) na energiju klijanja (EK), klijavost (K), neklijala i bolesna semena (NB), tvrda semena (TS), normalne klijance (NK), abnormalne klijance (AK), dužinu korena (DK), dužinu hipokotila (DH), ukupnu dužinu klijanca (UDK), svežu masu klijanaca (SvMK), suvu masu klijanaca (SuMK) i vigor indeks klijanaca (VIK) kod dva genotipa crvene deteline (cv. K-17 i cv. Kolubara). Ogledi su izvedeni u laboratorijskim uslovima u Institutu za stočarstvo u Beogradu, u januaru 2011. godine. pH vrednost imala je značajan uticaj na NK (P (lt) 0.01), NB (P (lt) 0.01), DK (P (lt) 0.05), DH (P (lt) 0.01), UDK (P (lt) 0.01), SvMK (P (lt) 0.01) i VIK (P (lt) 0.05). Najmanje vrednosti za EK, K, NK, DH, UDK, SvMK i VIK zabeležene su na pH 4. Takođe, najveća učestalost NB, TS i AK registrovana je na pH 4. Genotipovi su se značajno razlikovali za sledeće osobine: TS (P (lt) 0.01), DK (P (lt) 0.01), DH (P (lt) 0.01), UDK (P (lt) 0.01), SvMK (P (lt) 0.01) i VIK (P (lt) 0.01). Utvrđeno je da genotipovi i pH nemaju značajan uticaj na EK, K, NB i SuMK.