Enhancing germination performance and vigor of lettuce and napa cabbage seeds through simple seed priming techniques under controlled conditions

Urban Farm DB summary

An experimental study at the Seed Technology Laboratory of Universitas Sriwijaya, Indonesia, conducted in September 2025, tested simple seed priming treatments on four commercially marketed leafy vegetable seed types used in urban farming — butterhead lettuce, red romaine lettuce, green lettuce, and napa cabbage — using a factorial completely randomized design. Seeds received one of four treatments (untreated control, 60°C warm water for 15 minutes, 60% shallot extract for 30 minutes, or 70% coconut water for 30 minutes), and germination was recorded every 6 hours over 48 hours. Warm water priming reduced the time to 50% germination (T50) from 36.69 hours in the control to 18.48 hours, and shallot extract reduced it to 19.38 hours, indicating faster germination; the authors note this still requires validation under nursery or field conditions.