Effect of Osmotic and Matric Potentials on the Availability of Water for Seed Germination

Abstract

Under special conditions where soil-moisture diffusivity and seed-soil contact are non-limiting, the osmotic and matric potentials of the substrate were found to be equivalent in their effect on the germination of seeds of ryegrass and dehulled phalaris over a range of water potentials from 0 to -15 bars. However, with intact phalaris seeds it appears that the seed coat constitutes a large resistance to the absorption of soil water, and under these conditions the equivalence between osmotic and matric potential no longer holds, and results of germination under osmotic stress must be used with caution in predicting the germination behaviour of seeds in dry soil.