TITLE:
Effects of Different Treatments on Physiological Characteristics of Cephalotaxus sinensis Seeds
AUTHORS:
Qianqian Si, Yan Ma, Dekui Zang
KEYWORDS:
Cephalotaxus sinensis, Cold Stratification, Seed Germination, Reserves, Enzyme
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.14,
September
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: Cephalotaxus sinensis seeds can’t
germinate even in the appropriate environment. However, numerous studies have
showed that cold stratification and gibberellin acid (GA) can break the seed
dormancy and promote seed germination effectively. To investigate the effect of cold stratification and
different concentrations of exogenous GA3 on dormancy breaking in seeds of Cephalotaxus sinensis, we
monitored germination rates and changes in soluble sugar, starch, amylase,
soluble protein, free amino acid during cold stratification. The results showed
that seeds stratified for 5 months germinated to 12.7%, while those disposed
with 200, 400, 600 mg/L of GA3 germinated to 29.2%, 21.7%, and
18.4%, respectively. Free amino acid content was enhanced significantly,
whereas soluble sugar content decreased during 45 days and then increased
constantly. Additionally, the main reserves such as starch, protein decreased
significantly during cold stratification, and cold stratification induced
increases in the activities of α-amylase,
(α + β)-amylase. The preliminary
results show that the combination of GA3 and cold stratification has
better effect to break seed dormancy.