Seedcoat removal and seed germination in Helianthus tuberosus L.

종피제거와 돼지감자종자의 발아

Pericarp and seedcoat removal treatments were tested to determine their effectiveness in the hard-to-germinate botanical seeds of jerusalem artichoke. Fresh seed of five Helianthus tuberosus L.varieties were (A)untreated (B)water soaked overnight (C) soaked overnight followed by renoval of pericarp or (D) soaked overnight followed by renoval of pericarp and seedcoat. The results indicate that treatments which removed the pericarp and seedcoat were the very effective, giving germination of over 90%. A considerable increase in germination did not follow only the peri-carp removal treatments. The factors inhibitory to germination of fresh jerusalem artichoke seed is associated withthe seedcoat. The removal treatment of pericarp and seed-cost is recommended despite its complexity because it givesa high germination percentage and varies least from varietyto variety. Heliarthus tuberosus L., a biomass potential crop, is a member of the family compositae. The genus Helianthushas provided man with two food plants, the sunflower (H.annus) and the jerusalem artichoke or topinambour (H. tube-rosus) . (3) The jerusalem artichoke grown for its tubers, has always been an extremely minor crop, but it is stillgrown in many places as a food for man or livestock and forthe production of alcohoL. Though tubers are used for pro-pagation jerusalem artichoke also flower and produce seedin head-like in florescences. Flowers are developed acro-petaLly on flattened receptacles such that outermost flowers are oldest. Each of these epigynous flowers may develop an achene-type fruit in which outer layers of the overy wallpersist, while inner layers become disorganized. Insidethe ovary wall of mature fruit, there is a papery seedcoat, probably composed of compact cells from endosperm, integu-ments, and nucellus.In general, the efforts to improving this crop havebeen hampered by the hard-to-germinate botanical seed.Seeds did not germinate for at least IL months after harvest.Fresh seeds of some varieties require one year more to gar-minate. (5) Since the time factor between generations isof concern in a prospective breeding program of jerusalemartichoke , these observations led to investigation of thenature of delayed seed germination in jerusalem artichokeas a biomass potential crop.