Germination of Fully Developed Corylopsis Seeds Influenced by Harvest Date and Cold Stratification

Abstract

Corylopsis seed germination tests were conducted to assess the influence of harvest date (seed maturity) and cold stratification (CS) at 5 °C. Corylopsis gotoana seeds harvested on 12 July, 2 and 22 Aug., 6 and 20 Sept., and 1 and 10 Oct. 2011 were immersed in water for 20 min to separate fully developed seeds (full seeds) from empty seeds by floatation, and by X-ray scanning to identify full from empty seeds (Expt. 1). Immersing seeds in water did not effectively separate full seeds from empty seeds as evaluated by seed germination tests. Seeds harvested on or around 6 Sept. that sank showed translucent X-ray images with fully developed internal structures composed of embryo, cotyledons, and endosperm, and were considered mature. Without CS, >12% seeds harvested on 20 Sept. germinated, regardless of whether seeds were full or empty. Seeds of C. coreana harvested on 5 and 15 Sept., and 5 and 18 Oct. were stored dry at 20 °C until 27 Dec. and germinated after 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 weeks of CS (Expt. 2). Longer than 6 weeks of CS was required to accelerate and increase the germination of seeds harvested on or after 5 Sept. Germination percentage of full seeds harvested on Oct. 18 was increased to >72% as the duration of CS treatment increased to 12 weeks. In conclusion, fully developed seeds harvested on or after 6 Sept. were considered mature and 6 weeks of CS accelerated germination and increased the germination percentage. Further, dormancy of Corylopsis seeds appears to be shallow since germination occurred without any CS.