Field fate of Amaranthus patulus seeds subjected to leaf-canopy inhibition of germination.

Abstract

The germination of seeds of Amaranthus patulus Bertol., is known to be sensitive to leaf-transmitted light. Seeds were enclosed in transparent polyester-mesh envelopes and placed horizontally in 10-cm deep soil or on the soil surface, beneath a closed vegetation cover in the field. Changes in the numbers of firm intact seeds and of germinable seeds were traced for up to 3 years by periodical retrievals and germination tests. Rapid loss of germinable seeds, mainly due to germination, was observed in the buried seed population, in which only 20% of seeds maintained their germinability after 1 year, and a negligible number after 3 years. In contrast, the seeds placed on the soil surface maintained germinability relatively well: over 80% of seeds remained germinable after 1 year and a low percentage still preserved their germinability after 3 years. Assuming exponential decay in germinability, the decay rates on and in the soil were calculated from the data of the 1-year experiment to be 0.21 and 0.84 year-1 respectively. The fate of seeds that were exposed to canopy light on the soil for a month and then buried was shown to be almost the same as that of the seeds which had been continuously in 10-cm deep soil. Correspondingly, the possibility of the induction of secondary (induced) dormancy by exposure to canopy light was excluded in a laboratory experiment, in which it was found that the imbibed seeds suffering leaf-canopy inhibition of germination exuded some diffusible germination inhibitor responsible for apparent dormancy. Estimation of numbers of A. patulus in the seed bank of an early successional field showed that 3,500 seeds/m2 remained in the soil to the depth of 10 cm after 3 years' exclusion of the species following the production of 700,000 seeds/m2, by a population explosively established after experimental induction of secondary succession.