Seed germination characteristics of broad bean, lentil and common bean irrigated with different dilutions of pre-tanning effluents

leather manufacturing is a worldwide industry that has been carried out for centuries and has achieved great importance in turkey. however, the leather industry is associated with the generation of large amounts of waste water and solid wastes that are a threat to the environment. a germination experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different dilutions of pre-tanning effluents on the germination characteristics of broad bean, lentil and common bean. the experiment was designed as a completely randomized block with three replications. seeds of each species were sown and irrigated with different dilutions of pre-tanning effluents (1:10, 1:40 and 1:80 tap water:effluent), undiluted pre-tanning effluent, and tap water (control). number of germinated seeds, germination percentage, root length, root weight, shoot length, shoot weight and root+shoot weight were measured at 15 days after planting. all germination properties varied considerably, and significant differences among them were determined (p<0.05). undiluted pre-tanning effluent had adverse effects and no germination occurred for any of the tested plant materials. except for the undiluted pre-tanning effluent, no significant differences were detected in the number of germinated seeds and germination percentage, whereas some differences among treatments were observed for the remaining characteristics.