Separating germinable and non-germinable seeds of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) and white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) by the IDS technique

Estimates of the percentage of filled-dead seeds contained in two seedlots of eastern white pine and white spruce were obtained from cutting tests. After incubation samples of seeds were partially desiccated in a drying cabinet until the percentage of floating seeds, out of 100 seeds placed in water, was equal to the estimated percentage of filled-dead seeds. Then the seeds in each seedlot were separated in a water column. This separation resulted in a significant improvement in germination percentage from 50.2% to 86.0% when the control and bottom fractions were compared for the white spruce seedlot with the poorest germinability and from 46.2% to 69.0% for the white pine seedlot with poorest germinability. -from Authors