Effect of moist pre‐chill and dry pre‐heat treatment on the germination of Miscanthus sinensis seed from southwest China

Abstract

AbstractMiscanthus × giganteus has been widely cultivated in Europe and North America and is considered a potential biofuel plant. However, a barrier is the lacking establishment of inexpensive and successful stands. As a progenitor of M. × giganteus, M. sinensis could be potentially propagated by seed, with comparable biomass yield in some areas. The germination of seed plays an important role in establishing M. sinensis in the field. However, dormancy may not be advantageous for a seed to germinate freely. It is widely recognized that temperature is a key factor for seed dormancy and germination. In this study, two different temperature methods were hypothesized for promoting the seed germination of M. sinensis. The results showed that both 4°C and 10°C moist pre‐chill treatment for 21 days had a positive effect on breaking dormancy. Nevertheless, 10°C treatment showed the ability to promote germinated seed growth, especially in the radical, which provided a rapid growth for establishment. For dry pre‐heat treatments, 30°C for 30 days was the suitable treatment for increasing overall germination, as well as growth vigor. Furthermore, for saving time and labor, 50°C for 10 days also could be a choice as pre‐treatment before sowing. In addition, there is a possibility that the high temperature sometimes reinforced dormancy or even induced seed death, but could well increase the radical growth, indicating that high temperature could be an unfavorable environment signal to cause the seed self‐protection mechanism to dormancy. Therefore, high temperature level and duration of treatment for pre‐heat seeds is necessary for further field performance studies.