JPH03198702A - Method for promoting germination of seed - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the germination rate of seed without using the coating treatment of seed with an agent liable to cause the lowering of production efficiency by using a specific low molecular chitin or chitosan as a germination promoting agent. CONSTITUTION:A low molecular chitin or chitosan having a polymerization degree of N-acetylglucosamine or glucosamine units of >=4 is supported on a conventional carrier for the germination of seed. Seeds of a plant are placed on the carrier and sprouted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for increasing the germination rate of seeds when plant seeds are placed on a seed germination carrier and germinated.

[Conventional technology]

In order to improve the germination rate of plant seeds, soaking the seeds in water or treating them with chemicals has long been practiced before sowing. Recently, as a method for promoting seed germination using chitin and chitosan, a method has been proposed in which seeds are coated with chitin and chitosan and then sown (JP-A-63-139102, JP-A-63-1999). 29
No. 7305).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the above-mentioned method for coating seeds with chitin and chitosan, for example, the method disclosed in JP-A-63-139102, requires repeated coatings in order to coat the seed surface with an effective amount of low-molecular-weight chitosan. However, there is a problem that the coating operation is troublesome and production efficiency is low. In addition, in the method of JP-A No. 63-297305, when coating seeds with water-soluble chitosan salt, the seeds cannot be coated with chitosan salt alone, so the seeds that have been soaked in a -degree chitosan salt solution are further soaked in an alkaline aqueous solution. It is necessary to precipitate chitosan on the seed surface and use coating aids such as proteins, sugars, and synthetic polymers, which makes the coating operation troublesome and has poor production efficiency.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for promoting seed germination that can increase the germination rate of seeds without using a method of coating seeds with poor plant production efficiency. .

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides, in the case where plant seeds are placed on a seed germination carrier and the seeds are germinated, N-acedelglucosamine is added to the carrier. Or glucosamine polymerization degree is 4
A method for promoting seed germination is provided, which is characterized by supporting the above-mentioned low-molecular-weight chitin or chitosan.

That is, in the present invention, low-molecular-weight chitin or chitosan having a specific N-acetylglucosamine or glucosamine polymerization degree is supported on a seed germination carrier in advance, and the seeds are germinated on this carrier. ,
The seeds were able to germinate with a high germination rate due to the germination-promoting action of chitosan, thereby eliminating the need for coating seeds with chemicals, which can reduce production efficiency.

As a conventional method for promoting plant growth using chitin and chitosan, a method has been proposed in which a carrier is impregnated with a growth promoter containing chitin and chitosan as an active ingredient (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 33310/1983). However, this method is aimed at promoting the growth of plant stems and roots after germination, and does not use specific chitin or chitosan as in the present invention. In contrast, the present invention improves the germination rate of seeds by using specific N-acetylglucosamine or low-molecular-weight chitin or chitosan with a degree of glucosamine polymerization.
The method of No. 3310 is different in purpose, structure, and effect.

The present invention will be explained in more detail below.

In the present invention, N-acetylglucosamine or chitin or chitosan having a degree of polymerization n of glucosamine units of 4 or more, preferably 5 to 15 is used as a germination promoter, and thereby a good germination promoting effect can be obtained. can.

On the other hand, those with a degree of polymerization n of 3 or less cannot be used because they do not have a sufficient germination promoting effect.

In this case, there is no limitation on the type of low-molecular-weight chitin or chitosan, and the low-molecular-weight chitin or chitosan that has been reduced to a low molecular weight by chemical or biochemical decomposition methods, such as high-molecular chitin or chitosan, can be subdivided into Acids such as nitric acid, formic acid, and hydrochloric acid, peroxides such as hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate, chlorine, enzymes, microorganisms, etc., to reduce the molecular weight of chitin, mild decomposition products of chitosan, chitin oligomers, chitosan oligomers, and these chitins. , chitosans and acetic acid, malic acid, citric acid,
One or more kinds of organic acids such as ascorbic acid or salts with inorganic acids such as hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, etc. can be preferably used, but in particular, high-molecular chitin and chitosans obtained from microorganisms belonging to the genus Bacillus can be used. It is preferable to use those reduced in molecular weight by the enzyme chitosanase.

In addition, the molecular weight of low-molecular chitin and chitosan is 10,000.
Below, it is especially desirable that it is 800-3500. In this case, chitin and chitosan with a molecular weight of 5,000 or less are highly soluble in water even if they are not solubilized as chitin or chitosan salt with an acid, so they can be suitably used without considering the influence of counterions on seeds. I can do it.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned chitin and chitosan are supported on a carrier for seed germination.

In this case, any carrier can be used as long as it can support chitin and chitosan, and specifically, natural or synthetic fibers such as paper, cloth, agar, alginate, polyacrylic acid Salts, natural or synthetic water-absorbing gel-like polymer substances such as polyacrylamide, hydroponic cultivation carriers such as polyurethane foam, etc. can be suitably used.

In addition, the amount of chitin and chitosan supported on the carrier is 50 to 5
It is preferable to set the amount to 00 μg/g carrier, and thereby a good germination promoting effect can be obtained.

Further, the means for supporting chitin and chitosan on the carrier is not limited, but a method of impregnating the carrier with an aqueous solution of chitin and chitosan is preferably adopted. In this case, the concentration of chitin and chitosan in the aqueous solution is preferably 1 to 1 x 104% by weight, particularly 1X10-' to 1 x 10-' weight%. Further, the amount of the aqueous solution impregnated into the carrier is not particularly limited as long as it can be retained by the carrier, but it is usually 1 to 10 g/g carrier.

Note that the carrier can hold other optional components if necessary.

In the present invention, plant seeds are placed on a carrier carrying the chitin or chitosan and allowed to germinate.

In this case, there is no restriction on the type of seeds, and the present invention is effective in improving the germination rate of all kinds of seeds, but especially carrots and celery from the Umbelliferae family, rosemary from the Lamiaceae family, and eggplant from the Solanaceae family. It is effective for

In addition, normal conditions can be adopted as germination conditions, but generally the temperature at the time of germination is 20-30℃ and the humidity is 40-80%.
It is preferable that Note that the time required for germination varies depending on the type of seed, but is usually about 2 to 6 days.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the method for promoting seed germination of the present invention, the germination rate can be increased by a simple means without requiring the troublesome coating treatment of seeds with chemicals.
It is possible to improve the production efficiency of useful plants such as medicinal and ornamental plants.

Next, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to Examples and Comparative Examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following Examples.

[Example, comparative example]

A filter paper of the same size (Advantesoku Arashi 2) was placed in a petri dish with a diameter of 9 an inch, and 4.5 mj of test solutions A to G with the concentrations of chitin and chitosan shown below were placed in the dish. Impregnated. In this case, in test solutions B to D, chitin,
As the chitosan, low-molecular chitosan having a glucosamine polymerization degree n of 9 and a weight average molecular weight of 1500 (in terms of pullulan) manufactured by the method disclosed in JP-A-1-256395 was used. In test liquid E-G, a mixture of chitobiose and chitotriose with glucosamine polymerization degrees n of 2 and 3 in a weight ratio of 3:4 was used as chitin and chitosan.

Test solution A: 0% by weight (control) B:
0.1 〃 〃C: 0.01 〃 〃D=0.001〃 〃 E: 0.1 〃 〃F: 0.01〃 〃G: 0.001 〃 Next, filter paper impregnated with each of the above test liquids After placing 50 carrot seeds (early chantenay) on top and covering the petri dish, the temperature was set at 25°C.

A germination test was conducted for 3 days at a humidity of 50%, and the germination rate (
The number of germinated seeds/number of seeds placed in bed x 100%) was investigated. The results are shown in Table 1.

0 From the results in Table 1, it is recognized that the germination rate of seeds is improved according to the present invention. In particular, Example 2 (chitosan concentration 0.01%) showed a germination rate about 1.9 times that of the control (no chitosan added). On the other hand, in comparative examples using those with a glucosamine polymerization degree of 3 or less, a sufficient germination rate improvement effect was not observed.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When plant seeds are placed on a carrier for seed germination and the seeds are germinated, the carrier is characterized by supporting N-acetylglucosamine or low molecular weight chitin or chitosan having a degree of glucosamine polymerization of 4 or more. A method for promoting seed germination.