Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:20:02.932Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A hydrothermal time model of seed after-ripening in Bromus tectorum L.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

Maren Christensen
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Susan E. Meyer*
Affiliation:
Intermountain Research Station, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Provo, UT 84606, USA
Phil S. Allen
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
*
*Correspondence

Abstract

Bromus tectorum L. is an invasive winter annual grass with seeds that lose dormancy through the process of dry after-ripening. This paper proposes a model for after-ripening of B. tectorum seeds based on the concept of hydrothermal time. Seed germination time course curves are modelled using five parameters: a hydrothermal time constant, the fraction of viable seeds in the population, base temperature, mean base water potential and the standard deviation of base water potentials in the population. It is considered that only mean base water potential varies as a function of storage duration and incubation temperature following after-ripening. All other parameters are held constant throughout after-ripening and at all incubation temperatures. Data for model development are from seed germination studies carried out at four water potentials (0, −0.5, −1.0 and −1.5 MPa) at each of two constant incubation temperatures (15 and 25°C) following different storage intervals including recently harvested, partially after-ripened (stored for 4, 9 or 16 weeks at 20°C) and fully after-ripened (stored for 14 weeks at 40°C). The model was fitted using a repeated probit regression method, and for the two seed populations studied gave R2 values of 0.898 and 0.829. Germination time course curves predicted by the model generally had a good fit when compared with observed curves at the incubation temperature/water potential treatment combinations for different after-ripening intervals. Changes in germination time course curves during after-ripening of B. tectorum can largely be explained by decreases in the mean base water potential. The simplicity and good fit of the model give it considerable potential for extension to simulation of after-ripening under field conditions.

Type
Physiology
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, P.S., Debaene-Gill, S.B. and Meyer, S.E. (1994) Regulation of germination timing in facultatively fall-emerging grasses. pp 215219 in Monsen, S.B., Kitchen, S.G. (Eds) Proceedings—ecology and management of annual rangelands. Ogden, Utah, USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT-GTR-313.Google Scholar
Allen, P.S., Meyer, S.E. and Beckstead, J. (1995) Patterns of seed after-ripening in Bromus tectorum L. Journal of Experimental Botany 46, 17371744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baskin, J.M. and Baskin, C.C. (1985) The annual dormancy cycle in buried weed seeds: a continuum. BioScience 35, 492498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckstead, J., Meyer, S.E. and Allen, P.S. (1996) Bromus tectorum seed germination: between-population and between-year variation. Canadian Journal of Botany 74, 875882.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckstead, J., Meyer, S.E. and Allen, P.S. (1995) Effects of afterripening on cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and squirreltail (Elymus elymoides) germination. pp 165172 in Roundy, B.A., McArthur, E.D., Haley, J.S., Mann, D.K. (Eds) Proceedings: wildland shrub and arid land restoration symposium. Ogden, Utah, USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT-GTR-315.Google Scholar
Bradford, K.J. (1996) Population-based models describing seed dormancy behaviour: implications for experimental design and interpretation. pp 313339 in Lang, G.A. (Ed.) Plant dormancy: physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Wallingford, CAB INTERNATIONAL.Google Scholar
Bradford, K.J. (1995) Water relations in seed germination. pp 351396 in Kigel, J., Galili, G. (Eds) Seed development and germination. New York, Marcel Dekker, Inc.Google Scholar
Bradford, K.J. (1990) A water relations analysis of seed germination rates. Plant Physiology 94, 840849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradford, K.J. and Somasco, O.A. (1994) Water relations of lettuce seed thermoinhibition. I. Priming and endosperm effects on base water potential. Seed Science Research 4, 110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covell, S., Ellis, R.H., Roberts, E.H. and Summerfield, R.J. (1986) The influence of temperature on seed germination rate in grain legumes. I. A comparison of chickpea, lentil, soyabean, and cowpea at constant temperatures. Journal of Experimental Botany 37, 705715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahal, P. and Bradford, K.J. (1994) Hydrothermal time analysis of tomato seed germination at suboptimal temperature and reduced water potential. Seed Science Research 4, 7180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahal, P., Bradford, K.J. and Haigh, A.M. (1993) The concept of hydrothermal time in seed germination and priming. pp 10091014 in Côme, D., Corbineau, F. (Eds) Proceedings, fourth international workshop on seeds: basic and applied aspects of seed biology. Paris, ASFIS.Google Scholar
Debaene-Gill, S.B., Allen, P.S. and White, D.B. (1994) Dehydration of germinating perennial ryegrass seeds can alter rate of subsequent radicle emergence. Journal of Experimental Botany 45, 13011307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutta, S. and Bradford, K.J. (1994) Water relations of lettuce seed thermoinhibition. II. Ethylene and endosperm effects on base water potential. Seed Science Research 4, 1118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Huidobro, J., Monteith, J.L. and Squire, G.R. (1982) Time, temperature, and germination of pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides S. & H.). 1. Constant temperature. Journal of Experimental Botany 33, 288296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gummerson, R.J. (1986) The effect of constant temperatures and osmotic potentials on the germination of sugar beet. Journal of Experimental Botany 37, 729741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardegree, S.P. and Emmerich, W.E. (1990) Effect of polyethylene glycol exclusion on the water potential of solution-saturated filter paper. Plant Physiology 92, 462466.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kigel, J. (1995) Seed germination in arid and semiarid regions. pp 645699 in Kigel, J., Galili, G. (Eds) Seed development and germination. New York, Marcel Dekker, Inc.Google Scholar
Meyer, S.E. and Allen, P.S. (1995) Ecological genetics of seed germination regulation in Bromus tectorum L. (Abstract) Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 76 (Supplement), 183.Google Scholar
Meyer, S.E., Allen, P.S. and Beckstead, J. (in press) Seed germination regulation in Bromus tectorum L. (Poaceae) and its ecological significance. Oikos.Google Scholar
Michel, B.E. (1983) Evaluation of the water potentials of solutions of polyethylene glycol 8000 both in the absence and the presence of other solutes. Plant Physiology 72, 6670.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SAS Institute (1990) SAS/STAT User's Guide. Cary, North Carolina, SAS Institute, Inc.Google Scholar
Welbaum, G.E. and Bradford, K.J. (1991) Water relations of seed development and germination in muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.). VII. Influence of after-ripening and ageing on germination responses to temperature and water potential. Journal of Experimental Botany 42, 11371145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar