Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
The effect of pre-cool temperature was studied on seed characteristics including: percent and speed of germination, seedling height, root/shoot length ratio, seedling weight, seedling dry/fresh weight ratio and vigour index in five ecotypes of Dactylis glomerata in laboratory and greenhouse condition. Beside of seed germination characteristics, some vegetative growth properties such as tiller number and leaf area were measured in greenhouse experiment. In laboratory condition, pre-cool germination temperature (4 °C) was applied by two weeks on seeds of ecotypes before standard germination test. In greenhouse, the seeds of five ecotypes were sownon pots with fluctuation temperatures 20±5°C during day and (5-12 °C) during night time. The 4 °C was used as base temperature for cold treatment on 15 and 35 days of seedling growth stage compared control. Data were collected and analyzed using factorial experiment method. Results showed, some ecotype like Gene bank had higher values for percent and speed of germination and vigour index than other ecotypes in both experimental conditions. The same ecotype had higher values for tiller number and leaf area than others in both control and cold treatment. It follows by two ecotypes of Hamadan and Karaj with high level of tiller number and leaf area in reaction by cold treatment compare with control in greenhouse. With regard to results, for all seed characteristics, tiller number and leaf area, Gene bank and then Karaj and Hamadan ecotypes were superior compared with other ecotypes.
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