Germination Ecology of Rhanterium epapposum Olive | Science Publications

American Journal of Applied Sciences

Sameeha Zaman¹  Harby Tawfiq¹  Shyamala Padmesh¹ 

关键词: Rhanterium epapposum;    Capitulum;    achenes;    hydration and dehydration;    moist stratification;    heat stratification;   

DOI  :  10.3844/ajassp.2010.1321.1326

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: Science Publications

【 摘 要 】

Problem statement: Rhanterium epapposum, locally called Arfaj is the national flower ofKuwait. The current situation of Rhanterium epapposum is quite critical in most areas of Kuwait. Infact it has completely disappeared from most parts of the country due to a combination of overgrazing,collecting for firewood and off road driving. Approach: Rhanterium epapposum is an excellentspecies for rangeland restoration and information on its germination ecology is meager. Theconsiderable variations in germination between years lead us to study the variation in the size, massand number of filled achenes in the capitulum. The variation in capitulum size, mass, number ofachenes per capitulum and also the effect of dry heat (1-5 months), Moist chilling (1-5 months) andhydration dehydration cycles (1-5 cycles) on germination of the 6 different year collected Rhanteriumepapposum (2002-2007) seeds were studied under laboratory condition. Results: The seed size,weight, the number of achenes per capitulum of Rhanterium epapposum varied considerably from oneyear to another. Climatic condition significantly decreased seed quality and germination when theprecipitation is lower. Heat and moist stratification substantially improved the germination of 2003,2004 and 2005 seeds. However hydration and dehydration treatment had very little effect ongermination. Conclusion: It is concluded that results of germination tests differed depending on thepresence of filled achenes in the capitulum. There was a strong correlation between the presence offilled achenes in capitulum and the precipitation during the growing season. This suggested that undernatural condition precipitation plays key role in the formation of achenes in capitulum of theRhanterium epapposum seeds.

【 授权许可】

Unknown