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Seed germination responses to soil hydraulic conductivity and polyethylene glycol (PEG) osmotic solutions

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Abstract

Aims

Seed germination is one of the most important processes in plant biology and ecology because it determines the timing and magnitude of seedling emergence events every growing season influencing community dynamics. Our aim was to determine whether polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions simulate soil water potential accurately and recreate germination responses to soil water availability.

Methods

In this study, we compared seed germination of four plant species in PEG and four soils with different textures under six water potentials under controlled laboratory conditions.

Results

Total seed germination for all species significantly differed between soil and PEG under the same water potentials, as well as among soil water potentials for each of PEG and soil materials. Due to the inconsistent total germination associated with soil water potential, we evaluated unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity (Kh) as a predictor of germination. The germination of all species followed the same response to Kh. Germination rate (GR50) was more directly related to water potential than total germination, but Kh provided a more robust description of GR50 across species and soils than PEG-osmotic potentials.

Conclusions

Our findings showed that Kh is a more informative variable to predict both total seed germination and germination rate in soil, and caution must be used when considering results obtained using PEG solutions to infer germination behavior under field conditions.

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Abbreviations

Kh :

Unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity

PEG:

Polyethylene glycol

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Adam Howard for his valuable help with soil physical analyses. We also thank Dr. Theresa Reinhardt Piskackova, Sandy Ramsey, Joseph Hunter III and Alyssa Zsido for technical assistance.

Funding

This research was funded by USDA-NIFA Grants 2017-6505-26807, 2018-70006-28933, 2019-68012-29818, and Hatch Project NC02653.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7620, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Manuel E. Camacho, Joshua L. Heitman, Travis W. Gannon, Aziz Amoozegar & Ramon G. Leon

  2. Center for Environmental Farming Systems, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7620, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Ramon G. Leon

  3. Genetic Engineering and Society Center, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7620, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Ramon G. Leon

Authors
  1. Manuel E. Camacho
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  2. Joshua L. Heitman
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  3. Travis W. Gannon
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  4. Aziz Amoozegar
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  5. Ramon G. Leon
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Contributions

M.E.C., J.L.H., T.W.G, A.A., and R.G.L. designed research; M.E.C. performed research; M.E.C., J.L.H., and R.G.L analysed data; and M.E.C., J.L.H., T.W.G, A.A., and R.G.L. wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ramon G. Leon.

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We declare we have no competing interest.

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Responsible Editor: Susan Schwinning .

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Highlight

• Unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity describes more accurately and consistently seed germination across species and soil types than water potential determined with PEG osmotic solutions.

Supplementary Information

ESM 1

(DOCX 56 kb)

Fig. S1

Soil water holding curves obtained for the four soils used in present study. Model parameters (van Genuchten 1980) fitted through least squares regression method from soil water potential values measured following Klute (1986) procedures. (PDF 39 kb)

Fig. S2

A) PEG calibration curve for present study compared with the model (in red line) proposed by Michel (1983). B) Regression model for nominal value following Michel (1983) and measured water potential values. PEG solutions were prepared and kept at 25 °C. (PDF 47 kb)

Fig. S3

Estimated soil hydraulic conductivity corresponding to each soil water potential on four soils used on present study. Values calculated following Vogel et al. (2000) using measured Ks (Klute and Dirksen 1986) and van Genuchten’s model parameters (van Genuchten 1980). (PDF 41 kb)

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Camacho, M.E., Heitman, J.L., Gannon, T.W. et al. Seed germination responses to soil hydraulic conductivity and polyethylene glycol (PEG) osmotic solutions. Plant Soil 462, 175–188 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-04857-5

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