Effects of spacing and post-planting treatments on survival and growth of Fraxinus angustifolia seedlings.

This study was conducted at a bottomland hardwood site with heavy textured soil in Akyazi, Turkey to determine the effect of initial spacing (3.0 x 3.0, 3.0 x 2.0, 2.5 x 1.6 and 2.5 x 1.2 m) and post-planting treatments (untreated check, moving, hoeing, disking, and hoeing plus disking) on early survival and growth of Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. One-year old bare-root seedlings (70±5 cm in height) were hand-planted in December 2004. Through three years survival was perfect with a rate of 98% in all treatments. Spacing and the interaction between spacing and post-planting treatment did not significantly affect seedling growth through three years. However, height and diameter growth increased over time and differed significantly among post-planting treatments. The hoeing and hoeing plus disking treatments gave the highest growth, and resulted in about 31% increase in diameter and height increment, and in total diameter and height about 20%. These results suggest that post-planting treatments on bottomland sites with heavy textured soil give promising results.

Influence of acorn size and storage duration on moisture content, germination and survival of Quercus petraea (Mattuschka)

This study was conducted to evaluate how acorn size (small, medium and large) and acorn storage duration (0, 5 and 17 months) influenced Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) moisture content and germination. Acorn size and storage duration did not significantly affect acorn moisture content, but they significantly affected acorn germination performance. When averaged for three acorn sizes, loss of germination performance occurred after 17 months of storage even when the moisture content did not reduce significantly and remain at the initial level (32.6%). Maximum germination percentage was observed in large and medium size classes before storage (93 and 95%, respectively) and after 5-month storage (94 and 93%, respectively), but after 17-month storage medium acorn size class exhibited the highest germination (68%). Small seed size class exhibited the lowest germination percentage and rate in each acorn storage duration. Acorn size also significantly affected seedling emergence and survival in the nursery, and seedling emergence and survival was the lowest in small seed size class (85 and 80%, respectively). Although seedling survival of one-year seedlings in the nursery increased up to large seed size class, maximum survival in nursery conditions was observed in large and medium size classes (89 and 91%, respectively). Thus, acorn size grading in Q. petraea may result in higher germination performance within in a seedbed.

Seed germination of Cistus creticus L. and Cistus laurifolius L. as influenced by dry-heat, soaking in distilled water and gibberellic acid.

The effects of dry-heat and seed soaking in distilled water or in gibberellic acid on germination performance of Cistus creticus L. and C. laurifolius L. were studied in the present study Germination percentages of two Cistus species were low due to dormancy Soaking in distilled water for 24 hr resulted in 28% germination in C. creticus and 43% in C. laurifolius. Gibberellic acid applications (20, 100 and 250 mg l(-1)) for 24 hr gave 32, 30 and 23% germination, respectively in Cistus creticus and 33, 37 and 28% germination, respectively in C. laurifolius. Dry-heat pretreatments at 50, 80 and 100 degrees C for several times (1-60 min) also significantly increased germination percentage in two species. The highest germination in C. creticus was obtained with dry-heat at 100 degrees C for 1 or 5 min (80% and 83%, respectively) and in C. laurifolius at 100 degrees C for 5 min (87%). A significant increase in germination rate was also achieved under different pretreatments. The physiological dormancy caused by an impermeable seed coat can be overcome by dry-heat pretreatments in two Cistus species.

Seed germination of three Ulmus species from Turkey as influenced by temperature and light.

The effect of temperature and light on the germination performance of Ulmus minor, Ulmus glabra and Ulmus laevis were studied in this research. Seeds were germinated under constant temperatures of 20 and 25 degrees C and alternating temperatures of 25/15 and 30/20 degrees C. Within each temperature regime, seeds were subjected daily to the following photoperiods: total darkness and 8 hr photoperiod. Temperature and light affected seed germination percentage (GP) and germination rate expressed as peak value (PV) in Ulmus minor and 25 and 30/20 degrees C under light gave the highest GP (>95%) and PV (>23). The temperatures of 25/15 and 30/20 degrees C gave the highest GP (>89%) in Ulmus glabra and light did not significantly affect GP. But the highest PV in Ulmus glabra was found at these temperatures under light. Germination percentage of Ulmus laevis was not affected by temperature and light, but the alternating temperature of 30/20 degrees C produced the highest germination rate under darkness.

Seed germination of three provenances of Pinus brutia (Ten.) as influenced by stratification, temperature and water stress.

Seeds from three provenances of Pinus brutia were stratified for 0 or 45 d (days) at 4 +/- 1 degrees C and then germinated at 15 degrees C or 20 degrees C on filter paper saturated with polyethylene glycol solutions to provide water potentials of 0, -0.2 and -0.4 MPa (mega Pascal). Regardless of stratification, germination was lower at 15 degrees C than 20 degrees C for seeds of all provenances. Stratification significantly increased germination percentage at all water potentials regardless of the germination temperatures. Lowering the water potential to -0.4 MPa reduced germination for all three provenances in unstratified and stratified seeds when averaged for two temperatures, but reaction to the increased water stress was different among the provenances. Combined over two temperatures, stratified or unstratified seeds from the highest elevation (Cehennemdere) had the lowest germination performance at all water potentials, and stratified and nonstratified seeds from a coastal elevation (Silifke) had the highest germination parameters at the lowest water potential (-0.4 MPa). It might be concluded that seed germination and resistance to water stress vary according to provenance and stratification.

Influence of pretreatment and desiccation on the germination of Laurus nobilis L. seeds.

The effects of moist stratification, gibberellic acid (GA3) in combination with cold-moist stratification and desiccation on the germination of bay laurel (Laurus nobilis L.) seeds were studied. It was found that the external fleshy pericarp caused dormancy. There was also embryo dormancy and it was broken in seeds lacking pericarp either warm-moist stratification (20 degrees C day/4 degrees C night) or cold-moist stratification (4 degrees C) for 8 and 10 weeks, respectively. Gibberellic acid had little effect on germination percent and germination value of seeds without pericarp when used alone but significantly increased overall germination performance when used with cold-moist stratification. The viability of seeds dropped when the moisture content of the seeds was reduced by desiccation, and the time required to reach the critical moisture levels in the seeds differed in the different desiccation temperatures. The critical minimum seed moisture content for bay laurel was around 15% and the seeds showed the typical behavior of recalcitrant seeds.