To ensure even seedling growth when seeding rice, it is important to start with quality seeds. Rice seeds, particularly hybrid rice, have low seed set and yield, and imperfect seed filling, resulting in low germination power and seedling vigor.
Therefore, seed selection is crucial. One simple method is to soak the seeds in a salt solution, as quality seeds will sink. Afterward, soak the seeds in water for 48 hours. After draining, soak the seeds in water at 39-40°C for 5-10 minutes to accelerate germination. It is important to dry the seeds before sowing.
The 48 hour soaking treatment is an invigoration treatment, which improves the physiological quality of seeds, particularly seed vigor, through physical or chemical treatment. Highly vigorous seeds perform well during the germination process and are adaptable to various environmental conditions.
Research indicates that invigoration treatments can increase seed germination rates by 1-8% (depending on the type of treatment) and growth speed by 0.7-4.3% per day.
Sri Wahyuni conducted research at the Rice Plant Research Center, which was published in the Journal of Food Crop Agriculture Research Volume 30 in 2011. The study found that the invigoration treatment using a 10 ppm gibberellin (GA3) solution resulted in the highest stem length growth and germination percentage, with 16.8 cm and 89%, respectively.
