Studying seed dormancy and its consequent effect can provide important information for vegetation restoration and management. The present study investigated seed dormancy, seedling emergence and seed survival in the soil seed bank of Stipa bungeana, a grass species used in restoration of degraded land on the Loess Plateau in northwest China. Dormancy of fresh seeds was determined by incubation of seeds over a range of temperatures in both light and dark. Seed germination was evaluated after mechanical removal of palea and lemma (hulls), chemical scarification and dry storage. Fresh and one-year-stored seeds were sown in the field, and seedling emergence was monitored weekly for 8 weeks. Furthermore, seeds were buried at different soil depths, and then retrieved every 1 or 2 months to determine seed dormancy and seed viability in the laboratory. Fresh seeds (caryopses enclosed by palea and lemma) had non-deep physiological dormancy. Removal of palea and lemma, chemical scarification, dry storage (afterripening), gibberellin (GA3) and potassium nitrate (KNO3) significantly improved germination. Dormancy was completely released by removal of the hulls, but seeds on which hulls were put back to their original position germinated to only 46%. Pretreatment of seeds with a 30% NaOH solution for 60 min increased germination from 25% to 82%. Speed of seedling emergence from fresh seeds was significantly lower than that of seeds stored for 1 year. However, final percentage of seedling emergence did not differ significantly for seeds sown at depths of 0 and 1 cm. Most fresh seeds of S. bungeana buried in the field in early July either had germinated or lost viability by September. All seeds buried at a depth of 5 cm had lost viability after 5 months, whereas 12% and 4% seeds of those sown on the soil surface were viable after 5 and 12 months, respectively.

Seed dormancy and persistence in the soil seedbank play a key role in timing of germination and seedling emergence of weeds; thus, knowledge of these traits is required for effective weed management. We investigated seed dormancy and seed persistence on/in soil of Chenopodium hybridum, an annual invasive weed in north-western China. Fresh seeds are physiologically dormant. Sulphuric acid scarification, mechanical scarification and cold stratification significantly increased germination percentages, whereas dry storage and treatments with plant growth regulators or nitrate had no effect. Dormancy was alleviated by piercing the seed coat but not the pericarp. Pre-treatment of seeds collected in 2012 and 2013 with sulphuric acid for 30 min increased germination from 0% to 66% and 62% respectively. Effect of cold stratification on seed germination varied with soil moisture content (MC) and duration of treatment; seeds stratified in soil with 12% MC for 2 months germinated to 39%. Burial duration, burial depth and their interaction had significant effects on seed dormancy and seed viability. Dormancy in fresh seeds was released from October to February, and seeds re-entered dormancy in April. Seed viability decreased with time for seeds on the soil surface and for those buried at a depth of 5 cm, and 39% and 10%, respectively, were viable after 22 months. Thus, C. hybridum can form at least a short-lived persistent soil seedbank.

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Summary Although the effects of cold stratification on the release of physiological dormancy in seeds have been studied extensively, knowledge of the role of soil moisture content on seed dormancy release during cold stratification is limited. Our study determined seed dormancy characteristics and the effect of soil moisture content on seed dormancy breakage during cold stratification in the five common weed species Amaranthus retroflexus, Chenopodium album, Chenopodium hybridum, Plantago lanceolata and Setaria glauca. Seeds of all five species were dormant at the time of harvest and their germination response to light and temperature varied. Soil moisture content had a significant effect on seed dormancy release of all species except P. lanceolata. Germination percentage of A. retroflexus, C. album, C. hybridum increased and then decreased as soil moisture content increased, regardless of germination test temperature. The optimal soil moisture content and seed moisture content for dormancy breakage of A. retroflexus, C. album, C. hybridum were 8%, 12%, 8% and 22.0%, 37.7%, 25.7% respectively. Dry storage (after‐ripening) significantly increased germination of S. glauca. Moreover, increasing soil moisture content first slowed and then increased dormancy breakage in S. glauca. These results suggest that data on soil moisture content should be incorporated into models that predict weed seed dormancy breakage and timing of seedling emergence as well as those for weed management.