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Microbial enhancement of seed germination in Rosa corymbifera ‘Laxa’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2007

David R. Morpeth  and
Avice M. Hall
David R. Morpeth*
Affiliation:
Writtle College, Writtle, Chelmsford CM1 3RR, UK
Avice M. Hall
Affiliation:
Environmental Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK
*
*Correspondence Fax: +44 1245 420456 Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Germination of native tree and shrub species from seed can be unpredictable. Germination of Rosa corymbifera ‘Laxa’ was 2% under normal commercial conditions. This was obtained in the presence of the natural microflora found on the seeds. The microflora originated on the hips and the seeds become inoculated during extraction. Exclusion of microbes from such pretreatments resulted in no germination. Inoculation of surface sterilized seeds with members of the natural microflora resulted in 3% germination. The addition of GarottaTM, a commercial compost activator, to the commercial pretreatment increased germination to 95%. This high germination percentage was sustained over a 5 year period using seeds from the same stock bushes. Addition of the compost activator resulted in a 20-fold increase of microbial activity in the pretreatment mixture, indicating that enhanced microbial growth resulted in higher and more predictable germination percentages.

Keywords

commercial compost activatorRosa corymbiferamicrobial enhancement of germinationmicroflora
Type
Research Article
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 489 - 494
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

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