Abstract
Rumex turcomanicus Czerep., belonging to family Polygonaceae, is one of native green vegetable in Northeast Iran. Despite the high consumption, its seed germination and dormancy aspects is inconsiderable. In order to investigate the effects of seed harvesting date on seedling emergence, vigour and growth traits of R. turcomanicus Czerep., the seeds were harvested at five different times, i.e., two weeks after fruiting (WAF), 6WAF, 8WAF (mature seeds), 2 month after seed ripening (MASR) and 4MASR, and were sowed immediately, at agricultural college of Ferdowsi university of Mashhad, Iran in 2012-2013. The results was showed that the highest and lowest of seedling emergence percentage, seedling emergence rate, seedling vigour index, seedling fresh and dry weight, seedling root and shoot length, total seedling length and %final normal seedling (%FNS) was obtained in the seeds which were sowed 4MASR and 2WAF, respectively. Maximum and minimum of mean emergence time (MET) was observed in the seeds which were sowed 2WAF and 4MASR, respectively. Relationship between %FNS and MET and between %FNS and emergence percentage was highly significantly negative (-0.961) and positive (+0.962), respectively. Based on the results of this experiment, it seems that the problem of germination in most of the Rumex turcomanicus Czerep. seeds, is probably due to a kind of morphological dormancy, which is remained in most of the fresh seeds (collected 2WAF), and eliminated in the mature seeds (collected 2MASR). Also dry seed storage of the mature seeds for two months was improved seedling emergence and vigour, significantly.
Highlights
The family Polygonaceae contains about 800 species which are grouped into 30 genera and distributed widely all over the world (Stastn et al, 2010)
Proper establishment of plant species is often dependent on the timing of germination resulted from seed responses to environmental cues (Vazquez-Yanes and Orozco-Segovia, 1996), such as light, temperature and soil moisture that are most favorable to their establishment (Baskin and Baskin, 1998)
Experimental site and materials The seeds of Rumex turcomanicus Czerep. were collected from a natural site from Noghondar region around Mashhad -North east of Iran- (36°22’ latitude and 59°17’ longitude), in four times include 1; 2 weeks after fruiting (2WAF), 2; 6WAF, 3; 8WAF and 4; 2 month after seed ripening (2MASR), which were divided in two groups
Summary
The family Polygonaceae contains about 800 species which are grouped into 30 genera and distributed widely all over the world (Stastn et al, 2010). The Rumex genus of Polygonaceae has 200 species all over the word, of which 23 species are found in Iran and 10 species in Northeast of Iran (Gholami and Joharchi, 2008). The seeds may display the dormancy cycle which is the period for maturation to germination (Baskin and Baskin, 1998). Seed germination in different species of Rumex genus had been studied by many researchers. Assche et al (2002) were studied comparative germination ecology of nine Rumex species. They were reported that the seeds of R. acetosa and R. scutatus are non-dormant and can germinate immediately after dispersal. The seeds of R. acetosella do not germinate in the first season after dispersal, but buried seeds do not show a dormancy cycle; they might germinate in different seasons after exposure to light. The seeds of R. hydrolapathum only germinate on waterlogged soils (Assche et al, 2002)
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