Single seed conductivity and seedling emergence in soybean

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the relationship between the conductivity of individual soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill) seeds and their ability to emerge from the soil. The conductivity of individual seeds from 11 seed lots with standard germination percentages >80% and a range in seed vigor (accelerated aging germination percentages varied from 2 to 93%) was determined and the seeds were immediately planted in the soil, maintaining the identity of individual seeds. The emergence of individual seed lots varied from 37 to 94% across five experiments that included variation in planting depth and soil temperature. Stunted, abnormal and dead seeds/ seedlings, exhumed when emergence was complete, all contributed to emergence failure. Non-emerged seeds/ seedlings frequently had higher mean conductivity values than emerged seedlings, but the differences were usually not large. The range in conductivity of the non-emerged seeds overlapped the range of the emerged seedlings in all experiments so that many seedlings that emerged had the same conductivity values as non-emerged seeds/seedlings. The conductivity of an individual soybean seed did not accurately predict its performance in any of our experiments.