30 JOURNAL OF APPLIED SEED PRODUCTION, VOL. 3, 1985Table 1. Mean squares for seed quality measurements.Prechill Short-term Long-term Total seedDegree of germination dormancy dormancy viabilitySource Freedom 1979 1980 1979 1980 1979 1980 1979 1980Replication 2 286 759 28 534 20 282 286 116Row Spacing (S) 2 236 39 100 13 16 12 118 47Error A 4 113 147 95 128 7 90 147 84Cultivar (V) 2 896** 4788** 714** 3714** 1353** 9607** 217* 895*CvsPBt (1) 1513* 9491* 1300* 7428* 2705* 18517* 172* 1494*PvsB (1) 280* 86 128 0 0 697* 262* 294*V X S 4 63 75 82 75 14 39 37 68CvsPB x S-linear (1) 78 3 49* 118* 3 84Error B 12 43 79 69 83 8 37 43 58Nitrogen (N) 2 137 136 49 66 15 156 241Nx S 4 30 41 144 78 2 42 23 20Error C 12 125 152 50 118 24 67 92 69VxN 4 132* 123 139** 89 7 80 102 62CvsPB x N-Linear (1) 184* 352* 247* 290* 2 30 149 176VxNxS 8 42 14 56 33 7 55 19 56Error D 24 46 48 25 54 12 46 45 66*, **Significant at .05 and .Ollevels, respectively.t C, P, and B represent Cave-in-Rock, Pathfinder and Blackwell cultivars, respectively.LTD = V - prechill test %. Pure live-seed yields werecalculated by multiplying the percentage germination (prechilltest) by the amount of pure seed harvest per plot.The effects of cultivars, row spacing and nitrogen, andtheir interactions were tested by using analysis of variance(ANOVA) F-tests. Treatment and interaction effects weretested at P s 0. 05 except where noted. Whenever cultivar byrow spacing, or cultivar by nitrogen, interaction effects weresignificant, they were interpreted by partitioning the degreesof freedom and sums of squares into meaningful comparisons.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONPrechill germination (PG), short-term dormancy (STD)and viable seed (V) means did not differ among cultivars atTable 2. Long-term seed dormancy of switchgrass cultivarsgrown in three row spacings.Row spacing (em)CultivarCave-in-RockBlackwellPathfinderYear19791980197919801979198020 60100------------------------------ (%) -------11.2 14.7 14.954.4 52.1 51.41.6 1.4 0.816.0 17.4 17.61.0 2.2 1.022.1 23.3 27.1Table 3. Prechill test and short-term seed dormancy values for switchgrass cultivars fertilized at three N levels.Cu1tivarTest N-leve1 Cave-in-Rock Blackwell Pathfinder1979 1980 1979 1980 1979 1980(kg ha -I) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (%) --------------------------------------------------------0 35.3 14.5 53.1 44.5 48.7 43.4Pre chill 90 38.9 16.2 43.6 37.1 42.7 37.0test 180 36.8 18.1 48.7 39.8 40.3 33.50 26.3 12.8 23.0 38.3 26.4 39.5Short-term 90 31.8 15.0 15.8 33.0 22.3 33.9dormancy 180 30.1 16.9 19.3 34.3 18.6 32.1
JOURNAL OF APPLIED SEED PRODUCTION, VOL. 3, 1985 31different row spacings in either year of the experiment.Long-term dormancy (LTD) varied among cultivars at differentrow spacings (Table 1). The orthogonal contrast ofCave-in-Rock versus Blackwell and Pathfinder at differentrow spacings was significant for 1979 and 1980, but themaximum range of differences in LTD was within 5 percentagepoints and was not considered to be of practical significance(Table 2). The results show that row spacing treatmentsin this study had little or no influence on seed germinationand dormancy of switchgrass.Cultivar values for PG and STD were influenced by Nlevel (Table 1). Prechill test and STD values for Cave-inRock increased with added N, but these values decreased forBlackwell and Pathfinder with additions of N fertilizer (Table3). Cave-in-Rock was lodging resistant, but Blackwell andPathfinder lodged throughout the study regardless of rowspacing or N level. Possibly, N additions accentuated lodgingeffects for Blackwell and Pathfinder, resulting in poorseed fill and decreases in seed quality; however, this seemsunlikely because cultivar values for 100-seed-weight werenot influenced by N level (Kassel et al., 1985).A significant year X variety interaction was obtained in acombined-year ANOV A (data not shown). The greatest variationobtained in means of seed quality measurements in bothyears was due to cultivars, and most of the variation wasaccounted for in the orthogonal comparison of Cave-in-Rockversus Blackwell and Pathfinder (Table 1). Prechill germinationvalues averaged 37, 48, and 44% in 1979 and 16, 40,and 38% in 1980 for Cave-in-Rock, Blackwell and Pathfinder,respectively (Fig. 1). Blackwell differed from Pathfinder inPG in 1979 but not in 1980 (Table 1).Germination values were appreciably less than those reportedin the literature and those advertised for switchgrass inindustry. Environmental factors, cultivar, age of seed, ordifferent germination testing procedures may have contributedto the higher germination values reported elsewhere for switchgrass.The majority of switchgrass seed is produced in statesreceiving less rainfall than Iowa. Possibly, less rainfall andhumidity increases subsequent germination values of switchgrass.Sautter (1962) reported 84% germination for scarifiedseeds of switchgrass and Shaidaee et al. ( 1969) reported 90%germination of Greenville switchgrass in 2 out of 3 yearsusing alternating temperatures of 30 C for 16 h and 20 C for 8h. Low prechill test germination values may also be related toseed size of switchgrass. Kneebone and Cremer (1955) observedslower emergence and reduced germination percentageswith smaller seed. Possibly, decreased seed weights ofswitchgrass seed in this experiment contributed to reducedPG values. <strong>Seed</strong> weights in this experiment ranged from 110to 130 mg for 100 seeds. Expected 100-seed-weights ofswitchgrass range from 120 mg per 100 seeds (Atkins andSmith, 1967) to 180 mg per 100 seeds (A.O.S.A., Anon.,1978). <strong>Seed</strong> weights of switchgrass may have been below thecritical level necessary for high germination in this experiment.The large difference in PG values observed between Cavein-Rockand the other two cultivars support conclusions byShaidaee et al. (1969) that differences in germination abilityexist among cultivars. Cultivar differences in PG were relatedto seed dormancy. Although PG values in both yearswere lowest for Cave-in-Rock, this cultivar had the highestpercentage of viable seed (Fig.1). These results indicate thatthe greatest amount of seed dormancy was associated withCave-in-Rock. Cave-in-Rock is a lowland ecotype, andBlackwell and Pathfinder are upland ecotypes. Possibly,seed dormancy was associated with differences in growthcharacteristics or adaptation between lowland and uplandecotypes.Short-term dormancy in our study was the total amount ofseed dormancy that was broken with a 2-week prechillingtreatment conducted in accordance with A.O.S.A. (Anon.,1978) standards. Long-term dormancy was the remainingviable, but nongerminated seeds after the conclusion of theprechill germination test. In 1979, STD accounted for 86%of the total seed dormancy of Cave-in-Rock and was significantlygreater than the STD for Blackwell and Pathfinder.For Cave-in-Rock in 1980, however, STD accounted foronly 25% of the total seed dormancy and was significantlylower that STD for Blackwell and Pathfinder. Long-termdormancy was greater for all cultivars in 1980 than in 1979Table 4. Prechill test germination values and calculated pure live seed yields of three switchgrass cultivars for different testing dates.Dateof harvestCultivarPure seedyieldGerminationPLS yieldb/GerminationPLS yield22-29 Sept.1979Cave-in-RockBlackwellPathfinder(kg ha-l)1002289287Tested: 4-l-SOa/(%) (kg ha-l)37 37148 13944 126Tested: 5-1-81(%) (kg ha-l)75 75258 16867 19220-27 Sept.1980Cave-in-RockBlackwellPathfinder813349491Tested: 2-1-81(%) (kg ha-l)16 13040 14038 187Tested: 5-1-81(%) (kg ha-l)31 25260 20956 275a/ Germination was tested in accordance with Association of official <strong>Seed</strong> Analysts ( 1978) standards.b/ PLS = Pure live seedPLS yield = (kg of pure seed harvested) x (% prechill test germination + 100)
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