Quantification of seed-soil contact of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) using X-ray Computed Tomography

Sparkes, Debbie; Bussell, Jennifer; Blunk, Sebastian; Malik, Ali Hafeez; de Heer, Martine I.; Ekblad, Tobias; Fredlund, Kenneth; Sturrock, Craig J.; Mooney, Sacha J.

Abstract

© 2017 The Author(s). 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.

Citation

Sparkes, D., Bussell, J., Blunk, S., Malik, A. H., de Heer, M. I., Ekblad, T., …Mooney, S. J. (2017). Quantification of seed-soil contact of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) using X-ray Computed Tomography. Plant Methods, 13(1), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-017-0220-4

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 20, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 30, 2017
• Publication Date: Aug 30, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 3, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 3, 2017
• Journal: Plant Methods
• Electronic ISSN: 1746-4811
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-017-0220-4
• Keywords: Sugar beet, Germination, Seeds, Seed–soil contact, X-ray Computed Tomography
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/879446
• Publisher URL: https://plantmethods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13007-017-0220-4