The Korean Journal of Crop Science ISSN:0252-9777(Print) 2287-8432(Online) 한국작물학회지

This research was carried out to determine the characteristics of germination in relation to temperature, and seedling emergence and growth affected by soil moisture in forage millet. The seeds of forage millet could germinate at more than 15°C at the rate of 0, 90.5, 97.3 and 96.8% respectively 10 days after seeding at 10, 15, 20 and 25 °C. The result showed that the temperature needs to be 15 °C or more for the seeds to germinate. The effects of seeding depth on the growth characteristics and emergence of millet seed were investigated in waters and direct seeding methods by thoroughly mixing the seed and soil. In water treatment, the emergence rates were 3.7% at 15 °C, 7.6% at 20 °C, 6.3% at 25 °C, while direct seeding treatment showed the emergence rates of 65.6, 75 and 71% at 15, 20 and 25 °C, respectively. At 15, 20, and 25 °C, seeds in water seeding could germinate at 0.5, 1.8, 1.5 cm of soil depth, while in direct seeding, they could germinate at the depth of 9.5, 10.0, 9.9 cm. When the initial growth characteristics of the seeds were investigated, there was positive correlation between seeding depth and mesocotyl length in both water and direct seed methods. Growth and development in terms of leaf age, root length, coleoptiles and mesocotyl length, and plant height were found maximum at 0.5 cm soil depth for water seeding, and 3-5 cm soil depth for direct seeding. Results showed that there were close relationship among temperature, soil depth and moisture acquiring methods, and the combination of these factors greatly affected the initial growth characteristics and development of millet seeds. It can be concluded that, to get good seedling stand and germination of millet seed, millet should grown in field condition at the depth of 0.5 cm or less for water seeding, and 3-5 cm for direct seeding method.