The effect of cold stratification on germination in 28 cultural relict plant species
with the purpose of establishing germination protocols
Cultural relict plant species from the Nordic countries have been collected by the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) for the purpose of conservation. To ensure high seed vitality in store, regular germination tests need to be conducted. It is important to get a correct viability status, but the knowledge of seed dormancy in the cultural relict plants is often poor. The objective of this study was to investigate how seed dormancy is affected by cold stratification. The study includes 31 accessions from 28 species with the purpose of establishing germination protocols. Furthermore, the study includes three treatments: 0, 2 and 4 weeks cold stratification, followed by germination tests.
The dormancy of 22 of the species was not affected by stratification and 10 of them showed unsatisfying germination percentage (