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Germination Characteristics of the Dimorphic Seeds of Spreading Orach (Atriplex patula)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert E. Nurse ,
W. Daniel Reynolds ,
Colleen Doucet  and
Susan E. Weaver
Robert E. Nurse*
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre, 2585 County Road 20, Harrow, ON, N0R 1G0 Canada
W. Daniel Reynolds
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre, 2585 County Road 20, Harrow, ON, N0R 1G0 Canada
Colleen Doucet
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre, 2585 County Road 20, Harrow, ON, N0R 1G0 Canada
Susan E. Weaver
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre, 2585 County Road 20, Harrow, ON, N0R 1G0 Canada
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: nurser@agr.gc.ca
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Abstract

Spreading orach is an annual weed that colonizes roadsides, field edges, and increasingly, no-till agricultural fields. It produces dimorphic seeds with different levels of physiological dormancy, but little is known about the germination ecology of the two seed types. Field and controlled-environment studies were conducted to determine seed responses to light and stratification, the pattern of seedling emergence in the field, and the effect of soil water content on the length of cold stratification required to break dormancy for each seed type. The large, brown seeds have three times the mass of the smaller, black seeds, primarily because of a larger embryo, but have a thinner seed coat. Germination of brown and black seeds in petri dishes was 98 and 90%, respectively, after stratification for 3 mo at 5 C, whereas germination of unstratified seeds was 19 and 12%, respectively. Light stimulated germination of both stratified and unstratified black seeds but did not increase germination in stratified brown seeds. Up to 40% of brown seeds germinated in situ during stratification, compared with only 2% for black seeds. Germination in petri dishes and emergence in the field were more rapid for brown seeds than for black seeds. Maximum germination of black seeds occurred after stratification for 2 or 3 mo at 5 C on soil that was waterlogged (pore-water matric potential, ψ = 0 kPa), wet (ψ = −0.38 kPa), or at field capacity (ψ = −10 kPa). For shorter periods of stratification, total germination and germination rate of black seeds declined as soil water content decreased from waterlogged to dry (ψ = −500 kPa). Seed dimorphism in spreading orach may provide a mechanism to enhance survival in uncertain or variable habitats such as disturbed agricultural fields.

Keywords

Spreading orach, Atriplex patula LCold stratificationsoil water contentseed dormancyseed dimorphism
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 216 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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