Effects of artificial ageing treatment on vigor index of Elymus nutans seeds

An experiment was conducted to determine the relationship between seed germination percentage and the seed vigor in the process of artificial ageing Elymus nutans seed, and the artificial ageing time was set 8 grads from 12 h to 96 h. The vigor indicators included germination energy, vigor index, seedling length, conductivity and soluble sugar content. This study showed that seed germination percentage, germination energy and vigor index sharply decreased and slowly decreased after 12 h as artificial ageing time increased. The conductivity in seed leachate did not significantly respond to the ageing time, while the soluble sugar content increased greatly before 12 h and then did not significantly changed when the ageing time continued. Germination percentage of E. nutans was significantly correlated with germination energy (r=0.987) and vigor index (r=0.989), respectively, and was not significantly correlated with conductivity in seed leachate, and negatively and significantly correlated with the soluble sugar content in seed leachate (r=-0.808).