Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:18:45.474Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seed dormancy in six cold desert Brassicaceae species with indehiscent fruits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2015

Juan J. Lu ,
Yuan M. Zhou ,
Dun Y. Tan ,
Carol C. Baskin  and
Jerry M. Baskin
Juan J. Lu
Affiliation:
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Soil and Plant Ecological Processes, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Yuan M. Zhou
Affiliation:
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Soil and Plant Ecological Processes, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Dun Y. Tan*
Affiliation:
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Soil and Plant Ecological Processes, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Carol C. Baskin
Affiliation:
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Soil and Plant Ecological Processes, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA
Jerry M. Baskin
Affiliation:
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Soil and Plant Ecological Processes, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
*
*Correspondence E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The dispersal unit of many species of Brassicaceae is an indehiscent fruit, but relatively few studies have tested the effect of the pericarp on seed germination in this family. Our aim was to determine the effect of the pericarp on seed dormancy in six species of Brassicaceae native to the cold desert of north-west China. Intact dispersal units and isolated seeds of Chorispora sibirica, Euclidium syriacum, Goldbachia laevigata, Spirorrhynchus sabulosus, Sterigmostemum fuhaiense and Tauscheria lasiocarpa were stored dry at ambient laboratory conditions for 0–12 months and tested for germination in light and in dark at 5/2, 15/2 and 30/15°C. The amount of water absorbed by fruits and by seeds within the fruits was determined. For four species, intact fruits, isolated seeds and isolated seeds plus the removed pericarps were used to test for the mechanical versus possible chemical role of the pericarp in seed dormancy. Fresh isolated seeds, which have a fully developed embryo, germinated to lower percentages and rates than afterripened seeds. Thus, seeds have non-deep physiological dormancy. The pericarp significantly reduced germination, but inhibition was not due to lack of water uptake by seeds or to chemical inhibitors. Afterripened seeds of the six species germinated to 0–50% inside the fruits. We conclude that the pericarp plays a dominant role in seed dormancy of the six study species, and it does so by mechanically restricting embryo growth. Thus, the pericarp has the potential to spread germination over an extended period of time.

Keywords

afterripeningBrassicaceae speciesindehiscent fruitpericarpphysiological dormancy
Type
Research Papers
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 276 - 285
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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

Al-Shehbaz, I.A., Beilstein, M.A. and Kellogg, E.A. (2006) Systematics and phylogeny of the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae): an overview. Plant Systematics and Evolution 259, 89–120.Google Scholar
Baskin, C.C. and Baskin, J.M. (2014) Seeds: Ecology, biogeography, and evolution of dormancy and germination (2nd edition). San Diego, Elsevier/Academic.Google Scholar
Bewley, J.D., Bradford, K.J., Hilhorst, H.W.M. and Nonogaki, H. (2013) Seeds: Physiology of development, germination and dormancy (3rd edition). New York, Springer.Google Scholar
Binet, P. (1960) Inhibitions péricarpique et tégumentaire chez les semences de Cakile maritima Scop., les conditions de leur levée. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Normandie 1, 178–191.Google Scholar
Cheam, A.H. (1986) Seed production and seed dormancy in wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.) and some possibilities for improving control. Weed Research 26, 405–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cousens, R., Armas, G. and Baweja, R. (1994) Germination of Raphanus rugosum (L.) All. from New South Wales, Australia. Weed Science 34, 127–135.Google Scholar
Cousens, R.D., Young, K.R. and Tadayyon, A. (2010) The role of the persistent fruit wall in seed water regulation in Raphanus raphanistrum (Brassicaceae). Annals of Botany 105, 101–108.Google Scholar
Liu, X.F. and Tan, D.Y. (2007) Diaspore characteristics and dispersal strategies of 24 ephemeral species of Brassicaceae in the Junggar desert of China. Journal of Plant Ecology 31, 1019–1027 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Lu, J.J., Tan, D.Y., Baskin, J.M. and Baskin, C.C. (2010) Fruit and seed heteromorphism in the cold desert annual ephemeral Diptychocarpus strictus (Brassicaceae) and possible adaptive significance. Annals of Botany 105, 999–1014.Google Scholar
Lu, J.J., Tan, D.Y., Baskin, J.M. and Baskin, C.C. (2015) Post-release fates of seeds in dehiscent and indehiscent siliques of the diaspore heteromorphic species Diptychocarpus strictus (Brassicaceae). Perspectives in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (in press). doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2015.04.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mamut, J., Tan, D.Y., Baskin, C.C. and Baskin, J.M. (2014) Role of trichomes and pericarp in the seed biology of the desert annual Lachnoloma lehmannii (Brassicaceae). Ecological Research 29, 33–44.Google Scholar
Mekenian, M.R. and Willemsen, R.W. (1975) Germination characteristics of Raphanus raphanistrum. I. Laboratory studies. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 102, 243–252.Google Scholar
Ohadi, S., Mashhadi, H.R. and Tavakol-Afshari, R. (2011) Effects of storage and burial on germination responses of encapsulated and naked seeds of turnip-weed (Rapistrum rugosum) to light. Weed Science 59, 483–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R.R. and Rohlf, F.J. (1995) Biometry: The principles and practice of statistics in biological research (3rd edition). San Francisco, Freeman.Google Scholar
Wei, W.S., He, Q., Liu, M.Z. and Gao, W.D. (2003) Climate change and the desert environment in Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China. Journal of Desert Research 23, 101–105 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Zhang, G.L. and Chen, C. (2002) On the general characteristics of plant diversity of Gurbantunggut sandy desert. Acta Ecologica Sinica 22, 1923–1932 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhou, T.Y., Lu, L.L., Yang, G. and Ihsan, A. (2011) Brassicaceae. pp. 1–193 in Wu, Z.Y.; Raven, P.H.; Hong, D.Y. (Eds) Flora of China. Vol.8. Beijing, Science Press and St. Louis, Missouri Botanical Garden Press.Google Scholar