Effect of Various Pretreatments on Germination of Turkish Endemic Achillea gypsicola Hub.-Mor. Species under In Vivo and In Vitro Conditions

Abstract

There has been an increasing interest to overcome seed dormancy in medicinal and aromatic plants using various pretreatments. This study was carried out to determine effect of several pretreatments on germination of Turkish endemic Achillea gypsicola Hub.-Mor. species under in vivo and in vitro conditions. The seeds were subjected to three pretreatments as various concentrations of GA3 and KNO3 and 91day cold stratification, with a seven-day interval. In vivo germination test produced no germination in the seeds pre-treated with cold stratification and various concentrations of GA3, whereas KNO3 treatments both in vivo and in vitro explicitly increased germination percentage. Cold stratification showed no inciting effect on germination both in vitro and in vivo conditions. In vitro combined application of KNO3 and GA3 produced higher germination percentages than single applications. The stimulating effect of KNO3 and GA3 on germination percentage increased as the duration of seed immersing in KNO3 increased. The seeds hold in 200 μM KNO3 for 48 hours and planted on MS medium supplemented with 2 mg L-1 GA3 showed 100% germination. In conclusion, this study suggested that combined pre-treatment of KNO3 with GA3 had a great potential in breaking seed dormancy and increasing germination of Turkish endemic Achillea gypsicola Hub.-Mor. species.