Persistency and Seed Breaking Dormancy on Local Upland Rice of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a very important food crop in Indonesia. The development of upland rice becomes an alternative solution to meet the national rice needs. Upland rice productivity is lower than wetland rice, one of the causes is the use of low-vigor seeds. The seeds derived from previous harvest seed and newly harvested rice seedlings have physiological dormancy. Physiological dormancy relates to seed persistency. The study aimed to evaluate the persistence and development of invigoration technique to break seed dormancy of upland rice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The research was conducted at the Agronomy Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Halu Oleo University. Research was arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) consisting of 6 treatments namely: A0 (without treatment), A1 (KNO3 1%), A2 (ground brick matri-conditioning+Bacillus sp., CKD061), A3 (ground burned-rice husk matri-conditioning+Bacillus sp., CKD061), A4 (ground brick matri-conditioning+Bacillus sp., CKD061+KNO3 1%) and A5 (ground burned-rice husk matri-conditioning+Bacillus sp., CKD061+KNO3 1%).

RESULTS: The results showed that upland rice cultivars from Southeast Sulawesi have varying dormancy. The persistence of seed dormancy evaluated are Pae Parigi 2 is 8 weeks, Pae Parigi 1 is 9 weeks, Pae Kulibungka is 10 weeks, Pae Masaraha is 12 weeks and Pae Rowu is 16 weeks.

CONCLUSION: Application of seed bio-invigoration treatment was able to break seed dormancy of local upland rice of cv. Pae Parigi 2 with the best treatment was using KNO3 1%+ground brick+Bacillus sp., CKD061.