Germination of Pulsatilla cernua var. koreana seeds influenced by temperature, light, and GA3 treatments
Korean pasqueflower (Pulsatilla cernua var. koreana, Ranunculaceae), commonly called locally as Halmikkot (grandmother flower), is native to Korea.
The reddish-purple flowers bloom on 30 to 40 cm long flower stalks around March-April, and fruits are formed with seed-head with floppy white hairs that look similar to a grandmother's white hairs in May.
Pasqueflower has a high ornamental value for gardens and landscaping and is also used as a medicinal herb.
To develop native plants into floricultural crops, effective propagation methods should be investigated.
Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the effects of the seed germination temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30°C), day and night temperatures (20/10, 25/15, 30/20, 35/25°C), cold stratification (0, 15, 30 days at 5°C) and GA3 treatment durations (0, 6, 12, 24, 48 h at 100 mg L‑1), and GA3 concentrations (24 h at 0, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg L‑1). Seed germination percentage was higher at 30°C (55.3%) than at 25°C under light (40.7%) which was known previously as an optimum germination temperature.
The germination percentage was higher at 25/15°C and 30/20°C treatments than at the 20/10 and 35/25°C treatments.
Cold stratification treatments were not effective in increasing the seed germination.
The germination percentage was higher when seeds were treated with 50 mg L‑1 GA3 for 24 h (34.7%) than for the control and with GA3 at the other concentrations.
Soaking seeds with 100 mg L‑1 GA3 for 6 h improved germination, 35.2% compared to the control (23.3%). These results suggest that sowing seeds at 30°C under a light condition after soaking with 100 mg L‑1 GA3 for 6 h is recommended to improve seed germination of Korean pasqueflower.
Yoo, Y.K., Roh, Y.S., Yuan, T. and Roh, M.S. (2020). Germination of Pulsatilla cernua var. koreana seeds influenced by temperature, light, and GA3 treatments. Acta Hortic. 1291, 183-190
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1291.23
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1291.23
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1291.23
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1291.23
cold stratification, germination vigor, morphological dormancy, new floral crop, pasqueflower
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