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Survival of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and Nakai) seeds at 40°C prolonged by prior storage at 30°C

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2007

I. Demir*
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
H.A. van de Venter
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
*
*Correspondence. Present address: Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ankara, 06110, Ankara, Turkey. Fax: 0990–312–3179119 Email: demir@agri.ankara.edu.tr

Abstract

Seeds of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai var. Congo) were subjected to mild accelerated ageing treatments of 30 and 60 d at 30°C at a moisture content of 7.2%. In comparison to a cold-stored control, normal germination and viability were slightly (but not significantly) decreased by these treatments. Subsequent construction of survival curves during storage at 40°C, at seed moisture contents ranging from 10–18%, revealed that the prior 30°C ageing treatments prolonged survival under these conditions.

Type
Short Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

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