Comparative Analysis of Germination Behavior of Three Species of Solanum at Different Storage Periods and Conditions

Solanum constitutes the largest and most complex genera of the Solanaceae family, many of which are economically important. However, seed germination of the majority of the cultivated species of general Solanum is a major constraint to its production. The objective of this study was to investigate the germination behavior of three Solanum species under three storage environments at different periods. Seeds of three accessions of the Solanum species: S. macrocarpon, S. nigrum and S. aethiopicum were used in this study. The processed seeds of each accession were partitioned into three equal parts and packed in aluminium cans. Samples from the three accessions were kept separately in three storage environments, namely: ambient, short and medium term conditions in February 2015. The stored seed samples were drawn at quarterly intervals starting from May 2015 to February 2016 which constituted three storage periods and evaluated for germination. The laboratory experiment was conducted at Seed Testing Laboratory of the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) Ibadan, Nigeria. The experiment was arranged in 3 x 3 x 3 factorial using completely randomized design (CRD) in three replications. Results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that effects of Solanum species, storage environments, storage periods and their interactions were highly significant (P=.01) on germination. The germination values of 18.67%, 41.83% and 44.17% were observed for seed samples stored under ambient, short term and medium term conditions respectively. Also, germination decreased as storage period increased with values of 44.2%, 38.5% and 16.2% for the first, second and third quarters respectively. In conclusion, the result of the interactive effect of storage environments and periods on germination revealed that a medium storage condition is the best environment to store Solanum species seeds. However, <50% germination value observed in all the storage periods indicates that further studies could be carried out on effective dormancy breaking method for these species to enhance their germination.