The use of a specific gravity table or an aspirator in sugar-beet seed processing. I. To increase the germination percentage.

This study compared the discrimination achieved by a specific gravity table and an aspirator between live and dead sugar-beet seeds and between those seeds which could or could not give a hypocotyl at least 2 cm tall. A seed lot of 89% germination in the standard test was subdivided into 19 fractions with both machines. Even though variation in colour and severity of rubbing indicated that the seeds were sorted differently, both machines were equally inefficient. (...)