Does perianth colour affect the seed germination of two desert shrubs under different storage periods and conditions?

Abstract

Haloxylon salicornicum and Salsola vermiculata (Amaranthaceae) are two perennial shrubs producing fruits with differently coloured perianths (yellow vs pink) on separate individuals. To test the impact of different storage periods (four, eight and twelve months) and temperature conditions (freezing, room temperature and natural field temperatures) on the seed germination of the two seed categories, germination tests were carried out on both species. For both species, collected from wild plants in the Arabian desert (Qatar), seed germination was tested under two photoperiods (light 12/12; dark 24 hours) at 20/30°C for winged (intact) and de‐winged seeds. For each species, all the considered factors (perianth colour, wing presence, photoperiod, storage period and storage conditions) had significant effects on seed germination (p < 0.001), while the interactions among factors varied in their level of significance depending on the species. In both species, yellow seeds germinated considerably better than the pink ones, the presence of wings slowed the germination, and both storage period and temperature conditions highly influenced their germination ability. Our results indicate that seeds from different perianth colours have different germination strategies to delay their germination and distribute the species through time by escaping germination time by imposing some kind of after‐ripening or seed dormancy. The variation in storage time and storage conditions might help in extending their germination period, where one set of seeds germinate immediately, and the other set of seeds becomes dormant and thus contributes to the formation of a soil seed bank for the long‐term recruitment of seedlings. This study highlights an ecological advantageous strategy for these two species growing in the unpredictable desert habitat.

Eco-physiological studies on desert plants: germination of Halothamnus iraqensis Botsch. seeds under different conditions

“…Desert species are well adapted to cope with high temperatures, irregular water availability and high salinity, hence they are able to successfully colonize and survive under harsh environmental conditions (Khan and Weber, 2006;Rewald et al, 2011). Substrate salinity is one of the factors that mainly affects species germination and growth in arid and semi-arid regions (Paul, 2012;Flowers and Colmer, 2015;Song and Wang, 2015;Bhatt and Santo, 2017a). Halophytes have the ability to adapt to the dry saline soil conditions through morphological, anatomical and physiological adaptations (Flowers and Colmer, 2008;Hasanuzzaman et al, 2014;Song and Wang, 2015).…”

Evaluating germinability of eight desert halophytes under long-term seed storage: Implications for conservation

“…Wind-dispersal allows seeds to increase their chances of finding a suitable location for germination. Several studies on wind-dispersed seeds have indicated that the wings play an important role in controlling seed dormancy and germination requirements, such as light, temperatures and salinity (e.g., El-Keblawy, 2014, Bhatt and Santo, 2018, Bhatt et al., 2019). In our study, seeds of three species ( S .…”

Influence of fruit color on the oil quality and seed germination of Idesia polycarpa Maxim.

“…Changes in Allophylus edulis seed color can be indicative of harvest time (Kaiser et al, 2016). Furthermore, several studies have shown that there are many differences in the chemical composition of essential oils , the compositions and contents of fatty acids , antioxidant activity (He et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2020), germination properties, and seed longevity (Bhatt et al, 2017a(Bhatt et al, , 2017bBhatt and Santo, 2018) between different fruit colors.…”

“…The germination ability of seeds was affected by the colour of the fruit, seed moisture content temperature, and storage time of seeds (Sowmya et al, 2012;Pereira et al, 2013;Mira et al, 2015;Silva et al, 2017;Bhatt and Santo, 2018). The storage process of seeds is a natural aging process.…”