Soybean Seed Sterilization Methods in Relation to Germination and Early Growth

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different soybean seed sterilization methods on germination, contamination reduction, and early seedling growth. The experiment included 11 soybean cultivars and six sterilization treatments: control, 70 % ethanol, 5 % sodium hypochlorite, chloroform stabilized with amylene, chlorine gas, and UV-C treatment. The experiment was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions, with four replications per treatment. Standard germination, proportions of healthy, abnormal, infected, and dead seeds, root length, hypocotyl length, total seedling length, fresh mass, and dry mass were determined. The ANOVA showed a highly significant effect of genotype, sterilization treatment, and their interaction on all analyzed parameters (p ≤ 0.001). Total germination was generally high, with an average of 88%. The highest germination was recorded in chlorine gas and UV-C treatments, both reaching 94%, while the lowest value was observed after chloroform-amylene treatment (78%). The highest proportion of healthy seedlings was recorded after UV-C treatment (67%), followed by chlorine gas (65%) and 70% ethanol (61%). Chloroform-amylene showed the weakest overall performance, with the lowest percentage of healthy seedlings (43%) and the highest percentage of abnormal seedlings (34%), although it also had the lowest rate of infected seedlings (1%). In contrast, the control treatment had a lower proportion of healthy seedlings (45%) and higher levels of abnormal and infected seedlings. Generally, chlorine gas and UV-C treatments showed the most favorable effects on soybean seed germination and early seedling development, while chloroform-amylene was the least suitable treatment under the tested conditions, despite its strong reduction of infection.