Effect of Pre-sowing Treatments on Seed Germination And Seedling Emergence of Celtis Tournefortii Lam. – Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

The seed germination and regeneration ecology of tree seeds are different because of the process of evolution and the influence of some environmental factors. Thus, determining factors of the germination rate and seedling emergence timing are understandable. The main purpose this article is to investigate the impact of the pre-sowing treatments on the germination and seedling emergence timing of Celtis tournefortii, the native tree species in the Kurdistan region. The study pretreatment include untreated seeds (control), fruit seed with exocarp, chemical scarification 5, 10 and 15 minutes, mechanical scarification, hot water soaking for 5, 10 and 15 minutes, cold stratification for 1, 2 and 3 months, Gibberellic acid with concentrations of 500, 1000 and 2000ppm for five minutes soaking, and water soaking for 1, 2 and 3 days. The result revealed that the best germination of seeds 46% was achieved from Stratification for 3 months, Mechanical scarification, and seed treated with concentration 500ppm of gibberellic acid). While there some treatments are reducing the seed germination of this tree species which were 10 and 15minutes in H2SO4, normal water 1 and 2 days, and soaking in Hot water for 10 and 15minutes. Moreover, the result showed that the seedling emergence are related to the seed sowing date where the suitable sowing date for this species was in winter and early spring season. This finding has important implication, particularly for the managers of the plant nurseries, for developing a timetable for the suitable sowing time of the tree species seeds. Therefore, the study results could be used as a base for investigation and for future studies in seed germination of Celtis tourneforti as well as to maximize the germination success rate.