Development of a Greenhouse Tobacco Seedling Performance Index

Tobacco seed performance is traditionally measured as percentage germination at 14 d under controlled laboratory conditions. However, under greenhouse conditions, seed lots with equal 14-d germination may exhibit substantial differences in uniformity of early seedling growth and spiral root incidence that impact the number of usable transplants. A seedling performance index (SPI) was developed to quantitatively describe greenhouse tobacco seedling performance. The 14-d emergence, relative leaf area uniformity, and seedling leaf area determined by computer image analysis were used to calculate the index. Greenhouse tobacco seed trials demonstrated that seed with the Rickard pellet had higher emergence, but the higher spiral root incidence associated with the Rickard pellet lowered the SPI compared to the Cross Creek pellet. Primed seed lots of flue-cured cultivars (NC 72 and NC 71) had a significantly higher SPI than the nonprimed seed lots at one location but not at a second location. Seed lots sown in Premier Pro-Mix TA commercial medium had a higher spiral root incidence, which resulted in a lower SPI compared to Carolina Choice, Carolina Gold, and Sunshine LP5 commercial media. The index quantitatively determined differences in seedling performance under greenhouse conditions not reflected by standard germination tests. Significant differences in the SPI were observed among seed lots with certified 90% germination. The SPI is a simple method to describe seedling performance because the data used to calculate the SPI is obtained from one seed tray image. In contrast, frequent counting and seedling evaluations are involved with standard germination and vigor tests.