Abstract
Research Highlights: One of the ways to improve the quality of a seedlot used in the forest nursery is the grading of seed by colour. Background and Objectives: The study is intended for forest’s engineers and owners because it offers an alternative solution for forest seeds improvement before sowing. The success of forest establishment program mainly depends on the quality of Forest Reproductive Material. At this time usual practices during the seed processing is seed grading on size. This causes a lot of controversy about the possible reduction of genetic diversity through directional selection. Materials and Methods: Aiming to study the effect of seed coat colour on seedling performance, a one-year old container seedlings of Pinus sylvestris L. were planted at the post-fire site. Seedlings were produced from three fractions, previously graded in the visible wavelength range on a standard optical separator, plus control obtained without separation by colour. Results: Seedlings from different seed fractions performed differently in the first growing season after planting on the field. Seedlings from light seed fraction grow better in height, but those from dark seed fraction resulted with the highest survival rate. Light-dark seeds, which constitute the largest group in the initial sample by absolute weight, resulted with seedlings of the lowest growth rates and survival. The good results showed by seedlings from the control, for both growth rates and survival, indicate the weak effect of seed colour grading on seedlings field performance, but also the need for the more comprehensive studies in the future.
Highlights
The success of forest establishment program, including afforestation, reforestation, and forest restoration [1,2] mainly depends on the quality of Forest Reproductive Material (FRM), i.e., seedlings [3,4] and seeds [5]
One of the usual practices during the seed processing, mainly aiming to provide the seedlot uniform on size for mechanized sowing, is seed grading on size [10,11,12,13] which raise the concern about reduction of genetic diversity by directional selection as reviewed by Ivetić et al 2016 [14]
There are reports about no significant economic benefit [21] of grading of Pinus sylvestris L. seed on colour and the effect can be decreased by pale full seeds mimicking the empty seeds [22], but more studies reports evidence of possible use of the seed coat colour and spectrometric effect [23,24,25,26,27,28] as an indicator of seed germination and following seedlings growth
Summary
The success of forest establishment program, including afforestation, reforestation, and forest restoration [1,2] mainly depends on the quality of Forest Reproductive Material (FRM), i.e., seedlings [3,4] and seeds [5]. FRM is often subjected to transfer and trade [6,7], emphasizing the genetic component of FRM quality regarding the seed source [8] and genetic diversity of seed lot used for production of seedlings in nursery or for direct seeding on the field [9]. One of the usual practices during the seed processing, mainly aiming to provide the seedlot uniform on size for mechanized sowing, is seed grading on size [10,11,12,13] which raise the concern about reduction of genetic diversity by directional selection as reviewed by Ivetić et al 2016 [14]. As an alternative or as an addition to grading seeds on size, grading of seed on colour can be used in seed processing, aiming in quality.
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