Transient Thermal Flux as a Way to Stimulate the Loss Dormancy on Weed Seeds

Carles M. Rubio^1,

¹Department Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Polytechnical University of Catalonia, Castelldefels, Spain

Cite this paper:
Carles M. Rubio. Transient Thermal Flux as a Way to Stimulate the Loss Dormancy on Weed Seeds. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2014; 2(2):43-47. doi: 10.12691/aees-2-2-1

Abstract

Summertime weeds as Digitaria sanguinalis in many agro-ecosystems exist. In several cases, a well-defined weed control could be able to predict the seed emergence, to know the physiological status of the seeds in the soil bank, as well as, the factors that control and involving their germination. The goal of this work is to establish a relationship between the thermal properties and the process where the seeds start to be viable. In this study, a soil column device refilled with a calcareous silt loam soil was used, and two split seeds groups of Digitaria sanguinalis were buried at two height levels inside the column. The soil was monitored to determine the volumetric water content, temperature and thermal properties. Preliminary results allowed a rather complete understanding of the effect of the thermal flux on Digitaria sanguinalis seeds. The outcomes about the distribution of water content in the soil profile joint to thermal dataset allowed investigating into the variability of these properties and their relationships among them for this type of soil at laboratory scale.

Keywords:
thermal conductivity thermal diffusivity volumetric heat capacity water content

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