Germination pretreatments to break hard-seed dormancy inAstragalus cicerL. (Fabaceae).
Conservationists often propagate rare species to improve their long-term population viability. However, seed dormancy can make propagation efforts challenging by substantially lowering seed germination. Here I statistically compare several pretreatment options for seeds ofAstragalus cicerL.: unscarified controls and scarification via physical damage, hot water, acid, and hydrogen peroxide. Although only 30% of unscarified seeds germinated, just physical scarification significantly improved germination, whereas one treatment, hot water, resulted in no germination at all. I recommend that rare species ofAstragalus, as well as other hard-seeded legumes, be pretreated using physical scarification. Other methods may require considerable optimization, wasting precious time and seeds.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States; Department of Research and Conservation, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colorado, United States.
Joseph M
JM
Statwick
Astragalus; Dormancy; Germination; Milkvetch; Propagation; Scarification