Abstract
Temperature and salinity significantly affect seed germination, but the joint effects of temperature and salinity on seed germination are still unclear. To explore such effects, a controlled experiment was conducted, where three temperature levels (i.e., 15, 20, and 25°C) and five salinity levels (i.e., 0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mmol/L) were crossed, resulting in 15 treatments (i.e., 3 temperature levels × 5 salinity levels). Three typical grass species (Festuca arundinacea, Bromus inermis, and Elymus breviaristatus) were used, and 25 seeds of each species were sown in petri dishes under these treatments. Germination percentages and germination rates were calculated on the basis of the daily recorded germinated seed numbers of each species. Results showed that temperature and salinity significantly affected seed germination percentage and germination rate, which differed among species. Specifically, F. arundinacea had the highest germination percentage, followed by E. breviaristatus and B. inermis, with a similar pattern also found regarding the accumulated germination rate and daily germination rate. Generally, F. arundinacea was not sensitive to temperature within the range of 15–25°C, while the intermediate temperature level improved the germination percentage of B. inermis, and the highest temperature level benefited the germination percentage of E. breviaristatus. Moreover, F. arundinacea was also not sensitive to salinity within the range of 0–200 mmol/L, whereas high salinity levels significantly decreased the germination percentage of B. inermis and E. breviaristatus. Thus, temperature and salinity can jointly affect seed germination, but these differ among plant species. These results can improve our understanding of seed germination in saline soils in the face of climate change.
Highlights
Seed germination is a fundamental stage in the life cycle of a plant (Bewley, 1997; Nimbalkar et al, 2020)
The Germination percentage (GP) of F. arundinacea was higher than that of E. breviaristatus and B. inermis, and the GP of E. breviaristatus was in turn higher than that of B. inermis (Figure 2A)
The GP of B. inermis was highest at the intermediate temperature level (Figure 3B), and the GP of E. breviaristatus was highest at the highest temperature level in this study (Figure 3C)
Summary
Seed germination is a fundamental stage in the life cycle of a plant (Bewley, 1997; Nimbalkar et al, 2020). Over 900 Mha land is impacted by salinity in the whole world (Rengasamy, 2006; Shiade and Boelt, 2020) Climate change such as extreme warming is expected to be more frequent in the future (Khan and Qaiser, 2006; Blackport and Screen, 2020; Bai et al, 2021). Such change could significantly affect seed germination (Walck et al, 2011; Mondoni et al, 2012). Exploring seed germination under the ongoing soil salinization and global warming is important in assessing the stability of plant community
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