The effects of different seed coatings on oat growth and root activity at seedling stage.

Various seed coatings were used to investigate the effect of seed coatings on seed germination,seedling growth and development of wheat as well as maize.Several seed coatings have been reported to control Head smut and Powder mildew in wheat and maize.However,little was known about seed coating of oats.In this experiment,Avena sativa and Avena nuda were treated with five different seed coatings using three different concentrations each.Effects of different seed coatings with different concentrations were studied according to the ratio of seeds germination,plant height,plant dry weight,SPAD value,the first real leaf area and root activity.Results indicated that seed coating mainly affected plant height,plant dry weight and root system activity.Avena sativa and Avena nuda had different responses to the different concentrations of each seed coating.The suitable ratio of seed coating to Avena sativa was 1 to 20 for all treatments.For Avena nuda,the suitable ratio was 1∶40 except Vitavax with 1 to 30.The comprehensive evaluation by grey system theory showed that Vitavax was the best seed coating for Avena sativa L.followed by Kexizuo,Duoketong was the worst.Vitavax was the most effective for Avena nuda L.,followed by Tebuconazole,Duoketong was the least effective.