EFFECTS OF STORAGE MATERIALS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ON TIME OF GERMINATION OF SOYBEAN (GLYCINE MAX L. MERRIL) SEED IN YOLA, NIGERIA

The effect of storage materials and environmental conditions on time of germination of soybean seed was examined in this study using standard procedure in the laboratory of the Department of Crop Production and Horticulture, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola. The experiment consisted of three treatments which included five storage materials (glass bottle, polythene bag, polythene sack, clay pot, and metallic tin), three cultivars of soybean (‘Samsoy II’, ‘TGX1019-2E’ and ‘TGX1448-2E’) and two environmental conditions room temperatures of 16-18°C and open temperature of 35-38°C. They were replicated three times in a factorial design and the data collected were analyzed statistically using Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SAS and means that were significantly different were separated using Least Significant Difference (LSD). The result revealed that there were highly significant differences (p≤0.01) among the treatments on time of germination. At 360 days in storage (DIS), storage in metallic tin recorded the fastest time of germination with 50 hours followed by polythene bag (poly bag) and glass bottle which gave 51 hours. The cultivar ‘Samsoy II’ recorded the fastest time of germination of 40 hours which differed significantly from the rest of the cultivars. While room temperature recorded the fastest time of germination of 41 hours which also differed significantly (p≤0.01) from ambient temperature which gave 44 hours to germinate. It can be concluded that time of germination varies among storage materials, environmental conditions and among soybean cultivars.