Dormancy in light sensitive artemisia herba alba seed in relation to germination, oxygen uptake and water uptake

Abstract EN

Artemisia herba alba ( Asteraceae) is a perennial shmb in the semi-deserts of Middle East.

It was a very important medicinal plant.

The germination percentage of Artemisia herba alba seeds( achen) was low immediately after harvest at 20 °C under light and dark conditions.

It was improved gradually with time laps through dry storage under laboratory conditions.

The gelatinous envelope had no effect clearly on germination of newly harvested seed.

Seed coat was effeoted on germination, oxygen uptake, and water uptake of the newly harvested seeds.

Immediately after harvest, the germination percentage, water uptake, and oxygen uptake of the bored seeds are clearly higher than that of the intact seeds.

However the germination percentage and oxygen uptake of the naked embryo are muoh higher than that of the intact seeds.

So that Artemisia herba alba seed was dormant immediately after harvest, and this type of dormanoy is generally called coat imposed dormancy.

During seed dry storage, the germination percentage was increased to more than 90 %, this mean that spontaneous physiological change(s) may ocours in seed coat during dry storage, which it will be the next investigation.