An Investigation of Inter-varietal Differences in Dormancy and Viability of Rice Seed

In an investigation of the seed of six rice (Oryza spp.) varieties stored under identical conditions no significant difference in the period of viability was shown. This suggests that some equations previously derived from an experiment on a single variety to describe the relationship between temperature, moisture content, and the period of viability may be applied generally to the seed of cultivated rice varieties. The fact that the varieties used here differed markedly in dormancy period while in all cases the viability period was the same is discussed with other evidence to show that the commonly held view that there is an association between dormancy and viability should be abandoned, at least in rice.