Effect of sowing bed, irrigation period, seed provenance, seed cover and Effect of sowing bed, irrigation period, seed provenance, seed cover and sowing date on germination rate of Black pine seeds. Case study: Darlak nursery, Mahabad.

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of sowing bed, irrigation period, seed provenance, seed cover, and sowing date treatments on Black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) seeds in Mahabad’s Darlak nursery. To achieve this goal, a factorial design in a completely randomized pattern with 5 treatments was established, which included 4 levels of sowing bed (Control: “soil 1: manure 1: sand 1”, Treatment 1: “soil 1: manure 1: sand 2”, Treatment 2: “soil 1: manure 1: sand 4”, and Treatments 3: “sand”), 3 levels of irrigation period (every day, every 2 days, every 3 days), 5 levels of seed provenance (Urmia, Birjand, Kelardasht, Gorgan and Turkey), 2 levels of seed cover (sand and sawdust) and 2 levels of sowing date (February and March) each in 5 replications. In this design, the germination characteristics were measured during the growing season. The results showed that the best germinative characteristics of Black pine’s seeds can be achieved in the sand bed (treatment 3) by sowing seeds from Kelardasht and Urmia provenances. However, other treatments did not show any significant effect on seed germination. Furthermore, the interactions between treatments showed that the sowing bed and seed provenance were the most influential factors among the 5 treatments. The use of sand bed and seeds with Urmia and Kelardasht origins is therefore suggested to be preferred in Darlak nursery of Mahabad to ensure an improved growth and quality of Black pine seedlings.

Keywords

• Germination
• black pine
• sowing treatments
• nursery