Abstract
This study was carried out by growing five rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars (Anber-33 , Yasamin , BT-7, Cntlr-33 and Mishkhab-2) on 17/6/2005 at Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station . They were harvested at full maturity stage . Their seeds were stored for twelve months from the beginning of January 2006 to the end of December 2006. Seeds were packed by using three packaging methods i.e. (polypropylene bags , clothes bags and bulk) . The aim was to investigate the effect of packaging methods and storage period on the storability of these five rice cultivars . Seeds were stored under the Lab. Conditions with good ventilation. The results can be summarized as follows : Yasamin seeds gave the higher means of germination speed , standard germination percentage , radical length and seedling dry weight (67.76% , 80.58% , 9.87 cm and 4.25 mlg) , respectively , while Mishkhab -2 seeds gave the lower values of germination speed, standard germination percentage , plumule length , radical length and seedling dry weight (52.76% , 61.07% , 4.84 cm , 5.46 cm and 2.98 mlg) , respectively . For moisture content , BT-7 seeds recorded higher mean (12.89%) , compared with (12.75%) for Anber-33 which not significantly differ with Yasamin seeds. Clothes bags gave the higher means of germination speed , standard germination percentage , plumule length , radical length and seedling dry weight (63.60% , 76.17% , 7.88 cm , 9.13 cm and 3.90 mlg) , respectively . This method also recorded lower mean of seed moisture content (12.75%) . However the bulk method gave the lower means of germination speed , plumule length , radical length and seedling dry weight (57.85% , 65.65% , 6.59 cm , 7.63 cm and 3.33 mlg) , respectively . It also gave the higher means of seeds moisture content (12.87%) . The higher means of germination speed , standard germination speed , standard germination percentage and seedling dry weight (68.67% , 82.57% and 4.39 mlg) , respectively were recorded in the 9th month of storage , while the higher means of pumule length and radical length (8.70 cm and 9.78 cm) , respectively , were recorded in the 10th month of storage . The seeds moisture content was the higher (15.05%) in the first month of storage compared with (10.85%) in the last month.