Effects of dormancy-breaking treatments on seed germination of Pistacia species

This study was carried out to determine the effects of different dormancy-breaking treatments including stratification, sulfuric acid scarification, dehulling and gibberellic acid (GA3), on seed germination of different Pistacia species e.g. Pistacia vera cv. Kırmızı, Pistacia vera cv. Siirt, P. khinjuk-A, P. khinjuk-B, P. atlantica, P. terebinthus and P. mutica using as rootstock for pistachio trees. Seed dormancy-breaking treatments were shelled (control), shelled + GA3, dehulled, dehulled + GA3, Sulfuric acid scarification and sulfuric acid scarification + GA3 applications in the experiment. The seeds of Pistacia species were stratified at 4 °C for 50 days after the dormancy-breaking treatments. Stratified seeds were sown in the seedling viols filled with peat in the greenhouse to determine the germination percentage. The highest germination rate was obtained from sulfuric acid scarification in P. khinjuk-A (96.7%), and followed by dehulled application of P. vera cv. Kırmızı and P. mutica species with 94.6% and 93.2%, respectively. On the other hand, the lowest seed germination was observed for shelled + GA3 application of P. mutica with 6.7%. When the seed germination rates of Pistacia sp. were examined, the highest germination occurred in P. vera cv. Kırmızı, and followed by P. khinjuk-B. The lowest germination rate was observed on P. atlantica.