Deep Simple Epicotyl Morphophysiological Dormancy in Seeds of Endemic Chinese Helleborus thibetanus

Xueyan Zhao, Fangyuan Wang, Li Wang, Qing Wang, Ancheng Liu and Yan Li ()
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Fangyuan Wang: Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical Resources, Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi Province (Institute of Botany of Shaanxi Province), Xi’an 710061, China
Li Wang: Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical Resources, Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi Province (Institute of Botany of Shaanxi Province), Xi’an 710061, China
Qing Wang: Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical Resources, Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi Province (Institute of Botany of Shaanxi Province), Xi’an 710061, China
Ancheng Liu: Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical Resources, Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi Province (Institute of Botany of Shaanxi Province), Xi’an 710061, China
Yan Li: Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical Resources, Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi Province (Institute of Botany of Shaanxi Province), Xi’an 710061, China

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Helleborus thibetanus is an endemic species in China with important ornamental and medicinal value. However, the seeds have dormancy, and their germination percentage is low under natural conditions. This research was carried out to determine the seed germination requirements of H. thibetanus and to characterize the type of seed dormancy. The morphological post-ripening process of the seed embryo was studied according to the morphological anatomy, and the effects of temperature and gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) on seed germination were investigated in H. thibetanus . The H. thibetanus seeds had a heart-shaped embryo at maturity. The embryo fully grew within the seed through warm stratification, and the embryo/seed ratio increased from 8.58% to 42.6%. The shortest time for a radicle to emerge (58.33 d) and the highest radicle emergence percentage (84.44%) were obtained at a temperature of 15 °C. The results showed that the H. thibetanus seeds had a morphophysiological dormancy. In addition, 300 mg/L GA 3 treatments shortened the time of warm stratification and increased the radicle emergence percentage. Seeds with emerged radicles could not emerge epicotyl–plumule without cold stratification, which showed that the H. thibetanus seeds had epicotyl physiological dormancy. The length of the roots, cold stratification time, and GA 3 markedly affected the release of the epicotyl physiological dormancy in H. thibetanus . The seeds with 2.5 cm roots required the shortest time to break their dormancy (50 d), and the epicotyl–plumule emergence percentage was the highest. Additionally, GA 3 treatment also shortened the incubation time in cold stratification (5 °C) and successfully broke the epicotyl physiological dormancy. Our study showed that H. thibetanus seeds exhibited deep simple epicotyl morphophysiological dormancy. Temperature, GA 3 , and duration of stratification played vital roles in the seed germination of H. thibetanus . This research will provide valuable data for seed germination and practical dormancy-breaking techniques and will promote the cultivation and conventional crossbreeding of H. thibetanus .

Keywords: epicotyl physiological dormancy; gibberellic acid; Helleborus thibetanus; morphophysiological dormancy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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