South-East European Forestry (Jan 2018)

Correlation of Fruit Size with Morphophysiological Properties and Germination Rate of the Seeds of Service Tree (Sorbus domestica L.)

  • Damir Drvodelić,
  • Milan Oršanić,
  • Marko Vuković,
  • Mushtaque Ahmed Jatoi,
  • Tomislav Jemrić

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 47 – 54

Abstract

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Background and Purpose: The current study aims to evaluate the effect of the fruit size of service tree (Sorbus domestica L.) on physio-morphological properties of seeds and the seed germination process. Materials and Methods: The fruit samples varying in size and divided on the basis of weight into small (5-10 g), medium (11-15 g) and large (16-20 g) were collected from the area of Vukomeričke gorice (45°34′45″N 16°00′11″E), Zagreb County, Croatia. Results: In all fruits, a significant, positive and very high correlation was found between the fruit length and width (r=0.92). There was a negative and significant correlation between the fruit weight and the fruit shape index (r=-0.47). The number of filled seeds in fruit was significantly higher in large fruits (2.62 seeds) than in medium and small fruits (1.81 and 1.46, respectively). Seeds from large fruits had significantly greater length of radicle (3.89 mm) than those from medium and small fruits (3.27 and 2.88, respectively) after 120 days of stratification at 3°C. The mean germination time of seeds for all fruits in total was 107 days. The seeds with the highest weight had significantly lower rate of moisture absorption. After stratification the seeds of large fruits had the highest germination percentage (83.7%). Conclusions: The findings obtained will likely impact the propagation of this plant species in the future, because the results of the study favour the usage of seeds obtained from large fruits since they showed highest germination rate.

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