Effect of HgCl2 on the germination of hardened rapeseed

In order to evaluate the effects of seed hardening and HgCl2 concentrations on the rapeseed germination traits, a factorial experiment conducted based on completely randomized design with three replications. Treatments were seed hardening (control and hardened seeds with CaCl2) and HgCl2 concentrations (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 mM lit-1). Percentage and rate of germination, mean germination time, radicle and plumule length, seedling dry and fresh weight, primary and secondary vigour were measured. Results showed that seed hardening decreased germination percentage but had no significant effect on the root traits. Under lower concentrations (up to 0.8 mM lit-1) there were not a significant reduction in the studied traits, but higher concentrations caused sharp decrease in studied traits.