The effect of different light colors on germination of some seeds

This study was conducted to determine the effect of different color light (blue, green, yellow, red, white and dark) on the germination and seedling development of some crops [onion (Allium cepa L.), tobacco (Nicotiana tobacco L.) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)] to remove the dormancy by ISTA rules. Some parameters were measured in the study such as germination rate, mean germination time, homogeneity coefficient, length of radicil, hypocotyl and cotyledon. It was determined that, onion and lettuce seeds germinated under dark condition had the most successful results in terms of germination and seedling developments, however the seedlings were etiolated. It has been observed that both species should be germinated under different light colors, mainly in red, in order to obtain vigorous seedlings. Tobacco seeds germinated under red light had promising results in terms of germination properties. Different light colors gave similar results with regard to seedling development for tobacco, but not dark. It was also concluded that pre-treatments were not significant effect on onion or lettuce seed germination but it had significant effect on seedlings development only onion. It was noted that the application of KNO3 in tobacco seeds affected positively on germination characteristics, but there was no significant effect on seedling development.