Germination pattern of naturally grown Lathyrus and Vicia species to different methods and seedbeds

In many forage legumes, hard seed coat is the main problem impeding the germination by preventing water and gases transport in seed. We evaluated the effects of mechanical scarification, chilling, different seedbeds (peat and sand) and their combination on the germination ratio and time of 9 naturally grown legume species belonging Lathyrus and Vicia genus. Control seeds showed very low germination ranging from 0% in V. narbonensis and V. sativa to 24% in L. annuus among to species. Mechanical scarification highly increased germination in all the species ranging from 27% in V. sativa to 96% in L. sphaericus. The highest germination of all the investigated species (ranging between 100 and 51%) was determined in the combination of mechanical scarification and sowing in peat treatments. Under this treatment, germination was improved greatly from 1% in control to 100% in V. bythinica while the germination of V. narbonensis increased from 0% in control to 51%. Any treatment which is highly promotes germination of one species generally accelerated the germination time of same species. The effect of treatments subjected to present study on germination ratio and time was generally, with exceptions higher for Lathyrus species compare to Vicia species. Keywords: Germination; Lathyrus; Vicia; Hard seed coat; Scarification; Peat.