Barley seeds (
Hordeum Vulgare
) were germinated after soaking in different alkaline solutions of
varied concentrations and pH, at room temperature of 25°C. The rate of germination after 48 hours of soaking of the
seeds in distilled water was found to be 35% and the rate for the seeds soaked in the solutions of Ca (OH)
2 , KOH and
Mg(OH)
2 was observed as 60, 66 and 62% respectively. Where-as the rate of germination for the solutions of NaOH
and NaHCO
3 remained the same as that of the water. The influence in length of rootlets was also examined as a
function of the nature of the soaking solutions. Sharp increase in the length was observed in case of Mg (OH)
2 and
KOH while in NaOH, Ca(OH)
2 and NaHCO
3 increase in rootlets length was found insignificant . Variation of starch
and soluble protein contents in soaked solutions were also examined. Starch and soluble protein contents were found
to be the highest in NaOH soaked seeds as 57.7 and 5.95% respectively, compared to 45.07 and 2.50 % for the seeds
soaked in water.
