Abstract
Our aim was to determine the seed dormancy-breaking requirements and type of life cycle of Turgenia latifolia in north-western China. At dispersal in July, only 0-9% of the seeds germinated at 5/2°C, 15/2°C, 20/10°C and 25/15°C; thus, 91% of the seeds exhibited physiological dormancy (PD) and 9% were non-dormant. Also, the embryo was underdeveloped and embryo length:seed length ratio increased from 0.38 in fresh seeds to 0.79 at germination. Seeds buried in dry soil at the four temperature regimes for 12 weeks germinated to ≥50% when tested in darkness at 5/2°C, and those buried at 15/2°C and 20/10°C germinated to ≥50% when tested at 15/2°C. Seeds have intermediate complex morphophysiological dormancy (MPD). PD was broken at high and/or low temperatures, but embryo growth was completed only at low temperatures; gibberellic acid (GA3) promoted germination. Seeds buried under natural conditions during summer germinated to ∼70% and ∼55% at 5/2°C and 15/2°C, respectively, in darkness in autumn. In a germination-phenology study, cumulative germination was ∼20% and ∼80% in autumn and spring, respectively. Intermediate complex MPD allows the species to behave as a winter annual and as a short-lived summer annual.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 630-637 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Australian Journal of Botany |
Volume | 62 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014 CSIRO.
Keywords
- embryo growth
- morphophysiological dormancy
- seed germination
- winter annual
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Plant Science