Effects of some treatments in winter on the dormancy of seeds of common ten annual weed species in Hokkaido were studied.
1. Seeds of
Chenopodium album,
Polygonum lapathifolium,
P. longisetum and
P. nepalense had a deep dormancy at the time of maturity. In these seeds, dormancy was broken by burial in the soil, but the latter two species also after-ripened when stored dry at 5°C.
Seeds of
Commelina communis,
Echinochloa crus-galli var.
praticola and
Setaria faberi also showed deep dormancy and proceeded to after-ripen when stored dry at 5°C.
Seeds of
Elsholtzia ciliata were moderate dormant, and rapidly germinated after short period of storing at the room temperature.
In
Stellaria media, seeds harvested in August to September had no or weak dormancy; and secondary dormancy was induced by burial in the soil and was broken by the alternating temperature next spring. But seeds harvested in November were rather more dormant.
In seeds of
Digitaria violascens, the strongest dormancy of ten species was found, and very few seeds germinated after burying in the soil and storing in dry condition at 5°C.
2. High percentages in germination were obtained in seeds of
E. crus-galli var.
praticola, E. ciliata,
P. lapathifolium and
S. faberi, which had over-wintered outdoor in the air.
3. Chilling at 0-1°C of seeds of
C. album and
P. lapathifolium for a month, and
P. longisetum for two months, and
E. ciliata for four months, and
P. nepalese for six months, increased considerably their germination, but seed dormancy of other species was not broken by chilling.
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