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Quantification of seed–soil contact of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) using X-ray Computed Tomography
BACKGROUND: Seed–soil contact is important to ensure successful germination, however, there is a paucity of reported studies that have quantified the microstructure at and around this critical interface, mainly due to the opacity of soil. RESULTS: Here we describe a novel methodology to non-destruct...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5577657/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28861117 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13007-017-0220-4 |
Sumario: | BACKGROUND: Seed–soil contact is important to ensure successful germination, however, there is a paucity of reported studies that have quantified the microstructure at and around this critical interface, mainly due to the opacity of soil. RESULTS: Here we describe a novel methodology to non-destructively calculate the seed–soil contact area using X-ray Computed Tomography. Under controlled conditions, we observed that seed–soil contact was strongly influenced by the size and type of seed, with a seed–soil contact of ca. 15% for naked sugar beet seeds compared to ca. 32% for pelleted and coated seeds. Similar results were obtained for seeds sampled from the field albeit with a higher spatial variability. CONCLUSIONS: By application of this new quantification method it is hoped seed enhancement technologies can be optimised and ultimately seedbed preparation improved to ensure better germination. |
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