Seed enhancements may be defined as post-harvest treatments that improve germination or seedling growth, or facilitate the delivery of seeds and other materials required at the time of sowing. This definition includes three general areas of enhancements: pre-sowing hydration treatments (priming), coating technologies and seed conditioning. Pre-sowing hydration treatments include non-controlled water uptake systems (methods in which water is freely available and not restricted by the environment) and controlled systems (methods that regulate seed moisture content preventing the completion of germination). Three techniques are used for controlled water uptake: priming with solutions or with solid particulate systems or by controlled hydration with water. These priming techniques will be discussed in this paper with reference to methodology, protocol optimization, drying and storage. Coating technologies include pelleting and film coating, and coatings may serve as delivery systems. Seed conditioning equipment upgrades seed quality by physical criteria. Integration of these methods can be performed, and a system is described to upgrade seed quality in Brassica that combines hydration, coating and conditioning. Upgrading is achieved by detecting sinapine leakage from nonviable seeds in a coating material surrounding the seeds. Seed-coat permeability directly influences leakage rate, and seeds of many species have a semipermeable layer. The semipermeable layer restricts solute diffusion through the seed coat, while water movement is not impeded. Opportunities for future seed enhancement research and development are highlighted.

Bromus tectorum L. is an invasive winter annual grass with seeds that lose dormancy through the process of dry after-ripening. This paper proposes a model for after-ripening of B. tectorum seeds based on the concept of hydrothermal time. Seed germination time course curves are modelled using five parameters: a hydrothermal time constant, the fraction of viable seeds in the population, base temperature, mean base water potential and the standard deviation of base water potentials in the population. It is considered that only mean base water potential varies as a function of storage duration and incubation temperature following after-ripening. All other parameters are held constant throughout after-ripening and at all incubation temperatures. Data for model development are from seed germination studies carried out at four water potentials (0, −0.5, −1.0 and −1.5 MPa) at each of two constant incubation temperatures (15 and 25°C) following different storage intervals including recently harvested, partially after-ripened (stored for 4, 9 or 16 weeks at 20°C) and fully after-ripened (stored for 14 weeks at 40°C). The model was fitted using a repeated probit regression method, and for the two seed populations studied gave R2 values of 0.898 and 0.829. Germination time course curves predicted by the model generally had a good fit when compared with observed curves at the incubation temperature/water potential treatment combinations for different after-ripening intervals. Changes in germination time course curves during after-ripening of B. tectorum can largely be explained by decreases in the mean base water potential. The simplicity and good fit of the model give it considerable potential for extension to simulation of after-ripening under field conditions.

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After-ripening, the loss of dormancy under dry conditions, is associated with a decrease in mean base water potential for germination ofBromus tectorumL. seeds. After-ripening rate is a linear function of temperature above a base temperature, so that dormancy loss can be quantified using a thermal after-ripening time (TAR) model. To incorporate storage water potential into TAR, we created a hydrothermal after-ripening time (HTAR) model. Seeds from twoB. tectorumpopulations were stored under controlled temperatures (20 or 30 °C) and water potentials (−400 to −40 MPa). Subsamples were periodically removed from each storage treatment and incubated at 15 or 25 °C to determine germination time courses. Dormancy status (mean base water potential) was calculated from each time course using hydrothermal time equations developed for each seed collection. Seeds stored at −400 MPa did not after-ripen. At water potentials from −400 to −150 MPa, the rate of after-ripening increased approximately linearly with increasing water potential. Between −150 and −80 MPa, there was no further increase in after-ripening rate, while at −40 MPa seeds did not after-ripen and showed loss of vigour. These results suggest that the concept of critical water potential thresholds, previously shown to be associated with metabolic activity and desiccation damage in partially hydrated seeds, is also relevant to the process of after-ripening. The HTAR model generally improved field predictions of dormancy loss when the soil was very dry. Reduced after-ripening rate under such conditions provides an ecologically relevant explanation of how seeds prolong dormancy at high summer soil temperatures.