The study to find out the optimum imbibition period for seed priming of cucumbers of cv. “Super
Big” had 9 treatments. The treatments included non-primed seeds; seeds primed for 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 h or until
radical protrusion; and 1 min flash-hydrated seeds. For seed priming, the seeds were placed between moist floral
foam blocks (FORACELL®) at 25o
C and 90% RH. At the end of the imbibition period of a particular treatment, the
seeds were dehydrated to their initial weights and kept in sealed plastic bags at 17o
C. The seed germination test was
separated into 2 experiments. The experiment under control or laboratory condition was conducted with 3 replications/treatment
and 100 seeds/replication. The seeds were sowed in a medium consisting of sand, coir and rice husk
charcoal (1:1:1 by volume) in the growth chamber (Contherm Phytotron®) at alternating temperatures of 30/20o
C (8
h of light/16 h of darkness) and 60% RH. This germination test was done in August 2010 at the Department of Plant
Science and Natural Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University. The experiment under field condition
was conducted with 3 replications/treatment and 100 seeds/replication. The seeds were sowed on 1x3 m2
seed beds
in December 2010 at Mae Hia Agricultural Research, Demonstrative and Training Center, Chiang Mai University