Effect of Variety, Packaging Materials and Storage Period on Three Varieties of Soybeans in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria

This work was carried out at the seed science laboratory in the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Nigeria. It was aimed at assessing the germination parameters of soybeans stored under ambient condition. The experimental design was factorial in 3x5x6x comprising 3 varieties, 5 storage periods and 5 packaging materials by 3 replicates. The varieties investigated were TGx 932- 3F, TGx1904- 6F and TGx1448- 2E stored in cloth, glass bottle, plastic container, low density polyethene and laminate paper. The storage periods were 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8months Least significant (LSD) at 5% was used to compare the treatment means. The seeds in storage was sampled periodically (2, 4, 6 and 8 months) to determine quality by conducting a standard germination test with 100 seeds (100 seeds/rep). The germination percentage, germination index and germination rate index were evaluated. TGx 1904- 6F (V2) proved to do well in all the germination parameters. Low density polyethene proved to be the best packaging material in terms of the germination percentage and germination index. Laminate paper seemed to be the best for germination rate index. There was no significant difference in the interaction effect of all parameters. The present study revealed that soybeans stored for 4months at ambient could still do well in terms of the germination percentage, germination index and germination rate index.