Wpływ krótkoterminowego przechowywania nasion osiemnastu genotypów pomidora (Solanum lycopersicum L.) na ich kiełkowanie

The aim of the research was to determine the occurrence of primary dormancy in seeds of 18 tomato genotypes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) – 16 cultivars and two local genotypes – regenerated for the active collection of the National Institute for Horticultural Research. The plants were grown in the field in accordance with the adopted methodology of seed reproduction in the collection of genetic resources of vegetable plants. Tomato fruits were harvested twice a week from July 18 to September 26, 2019. Immediately after harvest, the seeds were extracted from the fruit, cleaned and dried according to FAO standards for gene banks. The seeds prepared in this way were stored for a period of sixty weeks at a temperature of 4±2°C in airtight containers with the addition of silica gel. During this period, after twenty, forty and sixty weeks of storage, their germination was tested. The studied tomato genotypes differed significantly in terms of depth of primary dormancy and rate of releasing from dormancy. Two of the tested cultivars – ‘Parteno’ and ‘Reper’, were characterized by seed dormancy at the level of 44.5% and 35.5%, two genotypes – ‘Amber’ and the local genotype POLPOB17-27 were characterized by dormancy levels of 15% and 18%. Seeds of two of the genotypes studied that did not show primary dormancy twenty weeks after harvest – ‘Zealand’ and the local genotype POLPOB17-28 – after storage for sixty weeks showed a reduced germination rate and a longer mean germination time. It is concluded that the optimum time for testing the germination of tomato seeds stored after harvest at 4 °C is forty weeks after harvest. The level of primary dormancy of the seeds is then the lowest, but the induction of secondary dormancy does not occur yet. When testing the seed germination in an earlier period, dormancy breaking procedures should be considered to obtain correct results.