Application of agar bed on tobacco seed germination testing

An agar bed was developed which corresponds to a traditional paper bed, and which can be used for testing tobacco seed germination. Unprocessed seeds, primed seeds, and pelleted seeds of K326, Yun-87, and Nanjiang-3 were germinated on agar beds of different concentrations, with filter paper used as a control. When the agar concentration was 0.55%, seeds grew significantly faster than the control during early germination (p<0.05); when it was greater than 1.65%, seedlings of naked seeds wilted on the 9th day and pelleted seeds wilted on the 10th day; when the agar concentrations were 0.8% and 1.1%, there were no significant differences in germinative energy or germinative percentage compared with the control (p<0.05). agar can maintain a certain amount of water used for seed germination, and needn't shower water in the whole cycle. Seeds were easy to sow and count because they cling lightly to the agar medium and did not roll as in the control.