Wild oats (Avenu fatua L.) seed dormancy as influenced by sodium hypochlorite, moist storage and gibberellin A3

Abstract

SummaryIncubation in gibberellin A3 (GA3) or a 1 h immersion pretreatment with 800 mm sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) both promoted 20% germination of freshly harvested dormant wild oat (Avena fatua L.) seeds that had been imbibed on water for 10 days. GA3 immediately following 1 h NaOCl immersion pretreatment induced maximum germination. Moist storage (MS) after NaOCl immersion pretreatment resulted in less germination on transference of the seeds to GA3, indicating that GA3 responsiveness was lost during MS. These seeds required a repeal NaOCl immersion plus a GA3 treatment to induce maximum germination. However, GA3 still gave maximum germination if the seeds were stored dry after initial NaOCl immersion. Seeds with water‐induced dormancy responded similarly to freshly harvested dormant seeds when treated with NaOCl, MS, or GA3. Seeds afterripened a longer time had a reduced requirement for exogenous GA3 in the breaking of dormancy indicating that the depth of the GA3‐dependent dormancy decreased with duration of after‐ripening.Dormant dehulled seeds with a brief NaOCl pretreatment germinated about 30% on water but gave maximum germination when incubated on GA3, an effect that persisted even after 21 days of MS. This effect, coupled with the previous findings, suggested that the NaOCl treatment weakened membrane barriers of the seed coat through a scarification‐like effect, similar to the effects of piercing and acid immersion, and thereby produced increased sensitivity to the presence of GA3. The loss of responsiveness to GA3 in NaOCl‐treated seeds during MS may involve the restoration of integrity of the seed coverings, a process occurring only in the imbibed state, and, presumably, most rapidly in freshly harvested, intact seeds.