Seed Dormancy and Germination in F5 Strains from Vicia sativa subsp. sativa x Vicia sativa subsp. macrocarpa

Authors : Esvet Açikgöz

Pages : 17-22

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Publication Date : 2020-10-09

Article Type : Research

Abstract :The objectives of this study were to determine the seed dormancy and germination characteristics of F5 strains from common vetch x big seeded vetch hybrids. White flowered common vetch accessions and red-flowered accessions were crossed and a totally 24 high forage and seed yielding strains were developed from F5 generation of different hybrid combinations. Standard germination tests were performed at a temperature of 20°C, without light, for 14 days. The seeds were subjected to (a) no treatment (control); (b) chilling; (c) mechanical scarification; and (d) mechanical scarification + chilling. First counts were taken on day-5 and final counts were made on day-14. Hard seed percentages were very low in the tested common vetch cultivars and strains. Chilling slightly increased the germination rate in some accessions. Big seeded vetch seeds showed very high hard seed contents with the germination percentage of Ericek strain were only 5-15% and almost nil in ICARDA-5283. Big seeded vetch seeds required scarification + prechilling treatments to overcome seed dormancy. The strains differed in the persistence of hard seed in all hybrid combinations. Untreated control seeds of some strains had very high germination rates. Contrarily, some hybrid seeds required prechilling and/or scarification treatments to induce germination.
Keywords : chilling, common vetch, germination, seed dormancy, scarification