Effect of seed deterioration on vegetative growth and chlorophyll fluorescence in soybean (Glycine max)

A consequence of seed deterioration is decreased vegetative growth that causes decreased crop competition, utilization of the environmental resources, and tolerance against the unfavorable conditions and hence decreased yield. One reason of decreased vegetative growth can be disruption in photosynthesis system and one way to investigate this disruption is to evaluate chlorophyll fluorescence that reflects photochemical condition of the plant. In this study, soybean seeds stored at 34ºC for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 days, and were then planted in the field. Vegetative growth and parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence were measured during vegetative growth at 32 and 53 days after planting. The results indicated that seed deterioration causes decreased leaf area index and dry matter accumulation, but no decrease was observed in chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, indicating that decreased vegetative growth is not related to photosynthetic system. Therefore, other mechanisms must be investigated in future studies.