Effect of storage temperature and packaging material on seed germination and seed viability of gaillardia

The seeds of Gaillardia aristata were packed in five different packaging material (cloth bag in desiccator, poly set bin, polyethylene bag - 600 gauze, cloth bag and aluminium foil) for a period of 18 months. The germination was recorded maximum (39.51%) in cold storage followed by ambient conditions (31.62%) and incubator (22.98%). Among the packaging material, the cloth bag maintained the maximum germination (34.29%) and poly set bin the minimum (25.77%) at the end of storage period. After one year of seed storage, highest germination (45.67%) was obtained in desiccator kept in cold store. The seed viability was significantly better in cold store (46.05%) than ambient (35.88%) and incubator (34.57%).The cloth and aluminium foil maintained 41.48 and 39.93% seed viability that is considerably higher than all other packaging. The maximum viability after one year was also recorded in aluminium foil (51.33%) followed by cloth bag under cold storage.