Effect of Cultivars and Processing Stages on Soybean Seed Quality

Aims: The objective of this research was to assess the effect of cultivars and processing stages on soybean seed quality as well as determining the step that exacerbates mechanical damage to seeds.
Study Design: Losing soybean seed quality under effect of processing stages accomplished through an experiment in factorial arrangement (6×3) with 18 treatments based on completely randomized design with three replications.
Place and Duration of Study: This study carried out in Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Institute of Sari- Iran (2011-12).
Methodology: The experiment proceeded with two separate factors, the first factor consisted of six different seed Processing stages: before cleaning, after elevator, after pre-cleaning, after cleaning, after drying and after packaging, and the second factor involved three cultivars of soybean, Telar, Sari and Line 033.
Result: Cultivar effect on germination percentage, cracked seed coat percentage, mean germination time, germination after accelerated aging test, electrical conductivity test and seedling vigor index was significant. However these parameters were significantly affected by different processing stages.
Conclusion: The lowest value of germination percentage, the highest value of broken seed percentage and the greatest value of cracked seed coat percentage caused after elevator stage while the rest of processing stages led to maximum quality of seed.