1. Response Surface Analysis of Seed Germination Percentage and MTG of 6 Basil Cultivars By Emily Zhou Department of Horticulture STAT 5606 Spring 2013

2. Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) o A frost sensitive low-growing herb in family Lamiaceae (mint family) o A summer and annual crop in North America and native to southern Asia o Grows a lot in Mediterranean area and South Asia o More than 60 cultivars 2

3. Seed Germination Testing  Very important to assess quality  6 Sweet Basil Cultivars 1. ‘Italian Large Leaf’ (‘ILL’): higher yields 2. ‘Italian Large Leaf’ 35X (‘ILL’ 35X): 5+ years old seeds 3. ‘Nufar’: disease (Fusarium) resistant ‘Italian Large Leaf’ type 4. ‘Genovese’: traditional Italian basil 5. ‘Genovese Compact Improved’ (‘GCI’): for containers and pack sales 6. ‘Aroma 2’: disease (Fusarium) resistant ‘Genovese’ type

4. Thermo-gradient Table

5. Germination Testing  4 × 25 seeds of cultivar 1 and 2 at each temperature  2 × 50 seeds of cultivar 3 to 6 at each temperature  Seeds were placed in 11×11×4 cm transparent covered plastic boxes, on top of two thicknesses of germination blotter paper, the blotters were saturated with 15 ml distilled water  Standard AOSA (The Association of Official Seed Analysts) germination testing procedure, grow in dark in one dimensional thermo-gradient table

6. Germination Data Analysis  Germination percentages  MTG (mean time to germination): ∑(NiTi)/∑(Ni), where Ni is the number of new germinated seeds at time Ti after imbibition calculated from four replications of 25 seeds each (Nerson and Paris, 1988)

7. Analysis of Covariance of Germination%

9. Response Surface

10. Germ% Response Surface Effect by Cultivar

11. CultivarsMax Germ (%) Optimal Temp (°C) R2R2 P 1-ILL 35X84.132.20.821<0.0001* 2-Nufar10026.40.502<0.0001* 3-Genovese89.228.40.632<0.0001* 4-GCI10027.10.547<0.0001* 5-Aroma 294.331.30.757<0.0001* 6-ILL99.331.50.649<0.0001*

12. Analysis of Covariance of MTG(days)

14. Response Surface

15. MTG(days)Response Surface Effect by Cultivar

16. CultivarsMax MTG (days) Optimal Temp (°C) R2R2 P 1-ILL 35X-1.430.60.934<0.0001* 2-Nufar32.10.860<0.0001* 3-Genovese-1.631.60.844<0.0001* 4-GCI-0.332.10.828<0.0001* 5-Aroma 2-0.932.20.894<0.0001* 6-ILL-1.431.70.839<0.0001*

17. Future Research Find out the optimal germination temp (°C) for each cultivar  High germ%  Low MTG(days)

18. Thank you!