The far-red (FR) light pulse treatment consisted of 3 min of FR light irradiation (91 lmol m-2 s-1) supplied from light-emitting diodes (MIL-IF18; Sanyo Biomedical, Osaka, Japan) passed through a FR acrylic filter (Deraglass A900, 2 mm thick; Asahikasei, Tokyo, Japan).
The red light- pulse treatment consisted of 3 min of red (R) light irradiation (120 lmol m-2 s-1) supplied from light-emitting diodes (MIL-R18; Sanyo Biomedical). Seed were checked daily for different light intensity treatments.
Seeds were observed only on the last day for the dark, R and FR treatments.
The tests continued until the germination percentage became effectively constant.