Evaluation of Seed Emergence, Seedling Vigour of Four Satureja Species Using Priming Technique and Chilling Treatment

Seedsoffour Satureja species; S. laxiflora (Hayata) Sasaki, S. macrantha (Makino) Kudô,S. sahendicaBornm. and  S. macrosiphonia Bornm. were collected from the different regions of Iran. The samples were transferred to seed technology laboratory of natural resource gene bank at Research Institute of Forest and Rangeland (RIFR), Tehran, Iran. The seeds samples were subjected to different treatments including: prechilling (4 °C), Gibberlic acid (250 and 500 ppm), Potassium nitrate (2 and 4%) and distilled water (control). The treated seeds were sown in pots using a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replications in a glass house experiment. The seed emergence characteristics, including: emergence percentage, emergence speed, length of root and shoot, seedling length, root/shoot length ratio, vigor index, seedling fresh and dry weight, dry/fresh weight were evaluated during 45 days. The results showed that S. machrantha had higher mean values of seed emergence characteristics than to the other three species. The effect of treatment was significant on seed emergence characteristics of the species, it was concluded that priming technique using Gibberlic acid was more effective than the other priming techniques.