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Effects of drought stress on seed germination of ornamental sunflowers

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Abstract

The response to drought stress on germination was investigated on three hybrids of ornamental sunflower, ‘Hadar’, ‘Pazit’, and ‘Zohar’. Different levels of water potential [Ψ: 0.0 (control), −0.15, −0.30, −0.45, −0.60, −0.75, and −0.90 MPa] were adopted using polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG6000) at four germination temperatures (15, 20, 25, and 30 °C). Final germination percentage, mean germination time, germination index, germination rate index, and germination stress tolerance index were used to evaluate the genotype response to PEG-induced water stress. Shoot and root length and fresh and dry weight were measured on seeds germinated at 20 °C under the different levels of water potentials. During germination, the three ornamental sunflowers showed to be more sensitive to suboptimal temperature than to supraoptimal. Decreasing water potential of imbibition solution progressively inhibited and delayed seed germination. Among cultivars, ‘Hadar’ and ‘Pazit’ performed better at temperature lower than 30 °C. ‘Zohar’ showed a lower sensitivity to PEG-induced water stress at all temperature conditions. Water stress during seed germination depressed the following seedling growth under favourable conditions. As a result, shoot and root length and fresh and dry weight was significantly lower in seedlings from seed germinated at ψ ≤ 0.45 MPa.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

FGP:

Final germination percentage

GI:

Germination index

GRI:

Germination rate index

GSI:

Germination stress tolerance index

MGT:

Mean germination time

PEG:

Polyethylene glycol

ψ :

Water potential

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), Università degli Studi di Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123, Catania, Italy

    Stefania Toscano, Daniela Romano & Alessandro Tribulato

  2. CNR-Trees and Timber Institute (IVALSA), via P. Gaifami 18, 95126, Catania, Italy

    Daniela Romano & Cristina Patanè

Authors
  1. Stefania Toscano
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  2. Daniela Romano
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  3. Alessandro Tribulato
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  4. Cristina Patanè
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Correspondence to Daniela Romano.

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Communicated by H. Peng.

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Toscano, S., Romano, D., Tribulato, A. et al. Effects of drought stress on seed germination of ornamental sunflowers. Acta Physiol Plant 39, 184 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-017-2484-8

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