Emergence and Shoot Growth of Cosmos and Marigold from Paclobutrazol-treated Seed

Abstract This study was conducted to determine whether treating seeds of ‘Sensation Mixed’ cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus Cav.) and ‘Bonanza Gold’ marigold (Tagetes patula L.) with paclobutrazol (PB) could suppress seedling growth. Seeds were soaked in solutions of 0, 500 or 1000 mg PB/liter (ppm PB) for 16 hours at 25C (77F) or they were primed [−0.5 MPa (−5 bars) for 7 days at 20C (68F)] in Grade 5 exfoliated vermiculite moistened with 0, 500 or 1000 ppm PB solltuions. Soaked and primed seeds were dried for 1 day at 19C (65F) and 25% relative humidity. These seeds and control (non-treated) seeds were sown into plug cells containing peat-lite. Increasing PB concentration decreased cosmos shoot height at 32 days after planting (DAP), but decreased emergence percentage, responses that were more pronounced with priming than with soaking. A 1 ppm PB growth medium drench [30 ml/cell(0.2 mg PB/cell)] and, to a greater extent a 10 mg PB/liter (ppm PB) shoot spray [2 ml/shoot (0.02 mg PB/shoot)], both applied at 10 DAP, resulted in greater cosmos shoot height suppression at 32 DAP than treatment of seeds with 1000 ppm PB. Soaking marigold seeds in 1000 ppm PB failed to decrease shoot height below those of plants from non-treated seeds at 32 DAP. However, exposure to 1000 ppm PB during priming of marigold seeds resulted in a similar shoot height suppression (13%) as the growth medium drench, and similar shoot dry weight reduction (21%) as the shoot spray. Suppression of shoot growth by this seed treatment was short-term since by five weeks after transplanting into 15 cm (6 in) pots, only marigold plants that had received the growth medium drench or shoot spray were smaller than those of control plants. Treating marigold seeds with 1000 mg ppm PB used about one-fifth the PB used to drench the growth medium.