Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Simin Haghanifar ¹
• Marjan Diyanat ²
• Aidin Hamidi ³
• Fereidon Ghasemkhan ghajar ⁴
• Elias Soltani ⁵

¹ Faculty of Agricultural and Food Industries Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

² Faculty of Agricultural and food industries sciences, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research branch, Tehran, Iran.

³ Seed and Plant Certification and Registration Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran.

⁴ Faculty of Agricultural and Food Industries Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

⁵ Department of Agricultural Sciences and Plant Breeding, College of Abu-Raihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This research was done in order to find the most effective treatment to break the hardness of Persian camelthorn (Alhagi camelorum) seeds, which is one of the major problems of its cultivation on a large scale. treatments including 98% sulfuric acid (treatments of 25, 30 and 35 minutes) and 100°C hot water (treatments of 30 seconds, 1 and 3 minutes) were performed in comparison with the control. The factorial experiment was conducted in the form of a completely randomized design. The results showed that the populations had significant differences in terms of all traits and the difference between seed hardness treatments and their interaction effects for all traits was significant at the 1% level. The results of the findings show that the presence of the hard shell is a physical barrier and it acts as factors limiting germination by preventing the expansion of the embryo or by limiting water absorption and gas exchange. Therefore, applying a series of seed scratching treatments such as sulfuric acid treatment and 100°C water will improve the germination of the camelthorn seed. Because the use of treatments such as sulfuric acid involves problems such as the risk of working with acid, and also due to the cheapness and availability of water, the lack of special facilities and materials, the harmlessness and simplicity of working with it to stimulate germination and remove hardness, 100 °C water for 30 seconds and placement of seeds in 30 °C germinator is the priority for treating Iranian seeds.

Keywords

• germination
• seed hardness
• sulfuric acid
• chemical scratching