• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.402-409
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• 2017

We performed seed germination tests to investigate the effects of seed sowing orientation on germination viability on peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) sprouts. Specifically, we assessed the influence of seed sowing orientation on germination rate, seedling weight, and seedling length, as well as the seedling vigor index. The seeds were sown in oak tree sawdust at 3.0 cm depth. Four seed orientations were tested: vertical with the hypocotyl end down, vertical with the hypocotyl end up, horizontal with the hypocotyl end down, and horizontal with the hypocotyl end up. The mean seed germination percentages of the four seed orientations were significantly different (p < 0.01) and ranged from 25 to 91.7%. The vertical orientation with hypocotyl-end-down and hypocotyl-end-up orientations showed the highest (91.7%) and lowest (25%) germination rates, respectively. The vertical orientation with the hypocotyl end down produced the heaviest (4.9 g) seedlings and the longest hypocotyls (4.65 cm). This orientation also produced the longest true leaf + epycotyl (2.15 cm) and had the highest seedling vigor index (197.1). The seedlings had a straight growth pattern, whereas seedlings from seeds sown with the hypocotyl up had an awkward plumular hook shape. Taken together, to produce peanut sprouts, we recommend placing the seeds vertically with the hypocotyl end down because this orientation leads to a high germination rate, high biomass production, and high overall seedling quality.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2017

Dhup (Canarium resiniferum) is an economically and aesthetically important rare native tree species of Bangladesh. In natural condition 78.5-98.7% seeds do not germinate due to inhibition by hard seed coat, seed predation and unfavorable environmental conditions. A study was conducted in the Seed Research Laboratory and nursery of Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University, Bangladesh in 2013 to find out appropriate pre-sowing treatments for maximizing germination and initial seedling growth. Eleven pre-sowing treatments were provided in both the seeds sown in polybags and seeds sown in propagator house. Results revealed that, germination started at first (after 20 days of seed sown) in seeds immersed in water at room temperature for 24 hours and germination completed within 38 days. Significantly higher (p<0.05) germination percentage (33%), germination energy (16.7%), plant percent (33%) and germination value (0.4) was found with seeds immersed in water at room temperature for 24 hours. Seedling height measured at three, four and five months after the seed germination in case of seeds treated by immersion in water for 24 hours was also greater than others. Therefore, pre-sowing treatment by immersion in water at room temperature for 24 hours was more effective in germination and production of quality vigor seedlings of Dhup.

• Forest Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.160-168
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• 2018

The seeds of Elaeocarpus serratus, a tropical underutilized fruit tree are characterized by hard seed coat and consequent poor water uptake and low germination. To improve the regeneration through seeds, various parameters such as viability of seeds, water uptake, and effect of seed mass on germination and pretreatments were performed using a completely randomized design (CRD). Tetrazolium (TZ) test was conducted using fresh, mature seeds revealed $50{\pm}2.56%$ mean viability. Seeds of different weight classes showed similar pattern of water uptake and the saturation level was achieved at 60 hrs of soaking. Seeds belong to weight class 2.6-3.5g were germinated ($12.5{\pm}1.26%$) with $175{\pm}1.75days$ (d) of mean time taken for germination (MTG). Germination capacity of seeds varied significantly among different populations and Varkala population gave $12.5{\pm}1.1%$ germination with $174.6{\pm}2.5d$ MTG. Among various seed treatments, mechanical scarification was superior in germination and significant reduction in MTG ($p{\leq}0.05$). The mechanical scarification by complete removal of seed coat resulted in $49.2{\pm}1.52%$ germination within a short period of time ($9.52{\pm}0.89d$ MTG). However, the complete removal of seed coat without damaging to embryo is a difficult task. An alternate treatment (Mechanical scarification II) by making cracks on nut faces vertically followed by soaking in distilled water for 24 hrs gave $48.4{\pm}1.73%$ germination with significantly reduced MTG ($12.14{\pm}0.56d$) over unsoaked, untreated control ($6.5{\pm}1.84%$ germination and $197.18{\pm}1.79d$ MTG; $p{\leq}0.05$). This treatment (Mechanical scarification II) is therefore recommended for E. serratus seeds as it can adopt easily and can achieve 7 fold increases in germination over control. The recorded germination through mechanical scarification is in tune with realized viability percentage of the seeds.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.207-216
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• 2014

A study was conducted to determine the phytotoxic effect of mercury on seed germination and seedling growth of an important arid legume tree Albizia lebbeck. The seeds germination and seedling growth performance of A. lebbeck responded differently to mercuric chloride treatment (1 mM, 3 mM, 5 mM and 7 mM) as compared to control. Seed germination of A. lebbeck was significantly (p < 0.05) affected by mercury treatment at 1 mM. Root growth of A. lebbeck was not significantly affected by mercury treatment at 1 mM, and 3 mM. Shoot and root length of A. lebbeck were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by 5 mM concentration of mercury treatment. Increase in concentration of mercury treatment at 5 mM and 7 mM significantly (p < 0.05) reduced seedling dry weight of A. lebbeck. The treatment of mercury at 1 mM decreased high percentage of seed germination (22%), seedling length (10%), root length (21.85%) and seedling dry weight (9%). Highest decrease in seed germination (51%), seedling (34%), root length (48%) and seedling dry weight (41%) of A. lebbeck occurred at 7 mM mercury treatment. A. lebbeck showed high percentage of tolerance (78.14%) to mercury at 1 mM. However, 7 mM concentration of mercury produced lowest percentage of tolerance (51.65%) in A. lebbeck. The seed germination potential and seedling vigor index (SVI) clearly decreased with the higher level of mercury. Plantation of A. lebbeck in mercury-polluted area will help in reducing the burden of mercury pollution. A. lebbeck can serve better in coordinating in land management programs in metal contaminated areas. The identification of the toxic concentration of metals and tolerance indices of A. lebbeck would also be helpful for the establishment of air quality standard.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2019

Pterocarpus erinaceus is a multipurpose tree species indigenous to semi-arid and Guinean-savanna woodlands of Africa. Natural regeneration on the savanna is being hampered by higher fire frequencies and other land use changes. Simultaneously, demand for timber from the species on the international market is on the rise, raising conservation concerns. To ensure sustainability, good quality seeds, sources of which have not received much research focus, are needed for afforestation. This study investigated how seed quality, germinability and initial seedling growth of P. erinaceus might be influenced by land-use type, mother tree size as well as source and timing of fruit harvest, using both correlational and experimental approaches. The results showed that up to 94.6% of all harvested fruits contained seeds, with no differences found between fruits harvested from cultivated and non-cultivated lands. Percentage of (sound) unblemished seeds was found to be higher for fruits harvested early March (47.3%) than fruits from late April (39.5%). Percentage sound seeds was 41.4% for dispersed fruits (i.e. detached fruits picked from under mother trees) which was not found to differ from undispersed fruits (i.e. fruits harvested while still attached to mother trees) at 45.5%. Also, the influence of fruit harvest time was not found to be different for dispersed and undispersed fruits. Correlations between seed set (proportion of fruits containing seeds) and mother tree size (both tree height and DBH) were found to be very low and non-significant for both dispersed and undispersed fruits. Across mother trees, mean emergence percent was 79.7%, and mean seedling height at three weeks following emergence was 5.32 cm. Both emergence percentage and seedling height were not found to differ among mother trees, but seeds from dispersed fruits had a higher emergence percent (85%) than seeds from undispersed fruits (74%). Implications of findings are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.10-14
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• 2006

We tested the seed viability of Pinus rigida using accelerated aging to discover optimum times and temperatures far artificially accelerated aging. Seeds were artificially aged at different temperatures and during different tines. The seed viability was affected by the accelerated aging and by temperature with a decline in germination and seed vigor. The aging index of P. rigida seed was 0.31 at $35^{\circ}C$ and seed viability was nearly lost after aging treatment at $40^{\circ}C$ for 15 days. The optimum temperature of P. rigida far the aging test was decided to be approximately $37^{\circ}C$ on the basis of the aging index. Inorganic materials and conductivity of leaching solution from aging seeds increased with the increase of aging period. The accelerated aging test was considered to be a suitable method to evaluate the seed viability of tree species. Because seed characters are much different among tree species, however, more studies need to be done to discover the optimum conditions for aging by tree species.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.809-814
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• 1998

Changes of annual seed production related to climate change were studied for 12 years in Piagol, a riparian valley in Mt. Jiri. Sixty-four seed traps (sized 0.5 ${\times}$ 0.5 $m^{2}$) were set up on the forest floor of surveyed area. Seeds were collected from these traps at an interval of 15 days from September to November since 1984. Vegetation of the study area was mainly consisted of the naturally regenerated Carpinus tschonoskii in the tree layer. Acer mono, Quercus serrata, Carpinus laxiflora and Symplocos chinensis also appeared in the same layer. Maximum production occurred in 1984 and 1994. As a result of comparing seed production with local climate factors for 12 years, seed productivity and the year of maximum production of Carpinus forest were merely related with precipitation, air temperature and duration of sunshine among local climate factors. Duration of sunshine was, however, not contributed to periodically high productivity of seed of riparian valley carpinus forest.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.200-210
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• 2013

Biochemical characteristics of 24 Pongamia pinnata genotypes (candidate plus trees) from three agroclimatic zones were estimated and molecular characterization through RAPD markers was done. Various biochemical characters viz. seed oil, total carbohydrates, protein, acid value and Iodine number recorded significant variation among different genotypes. The highest seed oil content was 41.87% while seeds of 14 genotypes recorded above average (32.11%) for the trait. Seed oil and protein content exhibited a significant positive correlation and moderate heritability. Out of the initially selected twenty-five random primers, twenty-two RAPD primers were found to be highly reproducible and produced a total of 183 loci of which 147 (80.32%) loci were polymorphic. Percentage of polymorphism varied from 44% to 100% with an average of 80.62%. High level of genetic variation was found among different genotypes of P. pinnata. Both molecular and oil content (biochemical) markers appeared useful in analyzing the extent of genetic diversity in Pongamia and the result of these analyses will help to better understand the genetic diversity and relationship among populations. Overall, the Pongamia genotypes included in the study showed a correlation with their geographical origins such that genotypes from the same region tend to have higher genetic similarity as compared to those from different regions. However, in UPGMA based Nei's analysis, some genotypes were found not to be grouped based on geographical origins possibly due to the exchange of germplasm over time between farmers across the regions. The results from oil content analyses showed that several genotypes in 'Central and Western Plateau' agroclimatic zone of Jharkhand displayed a good potential for high oil content. The study provides insight about P. pinnata populations in Jharkhand (India) and constitutes a set of useful background information that can be used as a basis for future breeding strategy and improvement of the species.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 1994

Taxol contents in various parts of 15 years old yew tree were determined. The descending order of taxol content per unit mass was stem bark, root bark, needle and seed. In the seed, that order was seed coat, embryo and endosperm. The total amount of taxol extractable from a 15 years old yew tree was 1.68 gram. This amount was distributed in needle, stem bark, root bark and seeds as 48.0, 23.8, 27.9 and 0.4%, respectively. Altitudinal variation of taxol content was also observed. More taxol was observed in yew trees grown at high altitude over 1000m above sea level. Calli and suspension cultures were induced from various yew trees. The presence of taxo] in cultured cells was established bv HPLC. The taxol content in cultured cells were different according to the source of explants. These results may be useful for the goal of large scale taxol production by cultured yew tree cells.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.42-45
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• 1965