Dormancy-Breaking Requirements and Germination for Seeds of Ostrya carpinifolia Scop.

Abstract

The present research aims at investigating the combined effects of warm stratification (WS)+cold stratification (CS), and gibberellic acid (GA₃)+cold stratification (CS) on breaking dormancy and germination in seeds of Ostrya carpinifolia. The seeds were subjected to WS (20-25 °C) for 0, 1 and 2 months and were subsequently cold stratified at 3-5 °C for 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 months (1st experiment). A further amount of seeds was treated with 500, 1000 or 2000 ppm GA₃ for 30 hours and then cold stratified at 3-5 °C for 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 months (2nd experiment). No germination was observed in the seeds subjected to only WS (1 and 2 months) or CS for 1 month indicating that the seeds of O. carpinifolia are dormant. A 4-month stratification (1 month WS+3 month CS or 4 months CS) fully released dormancy and led to a high germination percentage (94.17 and 98.34% respectively) in a short time (7.12 and 7.00 days respectively). Warm stratification treatment prior to CS, was not required in order to break the seed dormancy of O. carpinifolia and also did not reduce the length of the (total) stratification period required for breaking seed dormancy. Gibberellic acid (GA₃) application entirely replaced the CS period required for breaking seed dormancy. The germination of the seeds treated only with 2000 ppm GA₃ (0 months of CS) was (94.17%) as high as the germination of the seeds subjected to 4 months of CS (98.34%). It is obvious that the seedcoat of O. carpinifolia seeds was permeable to GA₃ and did not mechanically restrict embryo growth, thus, the seeds did not exhibit physical dormancy. Based on dormancy breaking requirements, the O. carpinifolia seeds displayed intermediate physiological dormancy.