Seed treatments to overcome dormancy of Nuruozak (Salvia leriifolia Bent.)

ABSTRACT: Salvia leriifolia Bent. (Nuruozak) is an important medicinal plant with wide pharmacological activities. The low seed germination is one of the main problems for cultivation and domestication of S. leriifolia. In order to improve germination rate of this plant, an experiment was based on completely randomized design (CRD) were designed; including; mechanical treatments (scratching the seed coat, cracking the seed coat, split seed in half and removing the seed coat), chilling (in 5 0C for 36, 48, 72 and 96 hour) and chemical treatments including; sulfuric acid (0.75%) for (15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes), gibberellic acid (250, 500, 750 and 1000 ppm), potassium nitrate (0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 %) and control treatment. Results of ANOVA showed that the highest percentage of germination (96%), germination rate (40.88% seeds per day) and maximum germination index (6.85) were occurred by removing the seed coats. Means comparisons indicated that the highest final germination percent (96%) was obtained by removing the seed coat, following by split seed in half (84%), scratching the seed coat (29%) and cracking the seed coat (21%) treatments. For the other experiments including chilling and chemical treatments, germination percent were less than 20. According to the results, mechanical treatments including removing of seed coats had the highest percentage and germination rate in Salvia leriifolia. So it seems that the Hardseededness and seed coat impermeability were the main limiting factors in the germination of Nuruozak seeds.