Evaluation of seed soaking times on germination percentage, germination rate and growth characteristics of pistachio seedlings

In traditional pistachio cultivation, prior to sowing seeds the latter are soaked in water for different times as farmers claim that this will contribute to germination. To our best knowledge, this is the first attempt to evaluate the effect of different water-soaking time periods on germination in pistachio. For this purpose, seeds of pistachio (P. vera L. 'Badami') were treated with water for 1, 6, 12 and 24 h. We monitored germination percentage, germination rate, mean time for germination rate, and seedling height at different stages, number of leaves, shoot and root dry weight, and trunk diameter. Our results indicated that germination percentage and rate significantly increased and seedling height increased in seeds, which were treated for 24 h. Although, plant root dry weight significantly decreased in seeds of this treatment, mean times for germination (MTG) values were not found to be statistically significant between treatments. We observed that the 6 h soaking treatment led to an increase in shoot and root dry weight, and trunk diameter. Also leaf numbers and root length values were highest in the 1 h soaked seeds, although differences were not significant. Positive relationship was observed between the plant shoot length and plant leaf number.

http://ift.tt/2qzz4c1