SEED GERMINATION ECOLOGY AND SEEDLING EMERGENCE OF SIXTEEN TREE SPECIES AUTUMN SOWN

Abstract

In nature, the regeneration and the seed germination ecology of tree species is varied due to divers’ environmental factors and evolution process. As a consequence, understanding the factors controlling the seed germination and seedling emergence in the time and the space. In most nurseries, tree seeds are usually sown in spring or rarely in autumn and, they are often pretreated to increase the seed germination where the germination timing is selective sieve that a plant experiences throughout its life history. However, in most nursery of Kurdistan region, the managers have not a good knowledge about the seeds sowing timing and seedling emergency of native tree species. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate seed germination phenology with providing new data and determine optimal ways of seed sowing time that will permit a best seedling establishment of sixteen native and introduced tree species. The results showed, the seed sowing timing and seedling emergence of these tree species. In addition, these species exhibit significant divergence in term sowing timing and seedling establishment. Thereby, our results have a high value for managers of Kurdistan governmental and private nurseries as a suggestion which exact time is better for sowing seeds and which seeds need pre-treatment before sowing in order to obtain better regeneration.