Delayed Germination of Prunus avium and Sophora microphylla

摘要

I would like to draw attention to Norman C. Deno, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry from Perm State University, and his 2nd ed. of Seed Germination Theoiy and Practice. His experiments cover 145 Families, 805 Genera, and about 2500 species. He states, "Every species has some mechanism for delaying germination until after the seed has been dispersed. The challenge in germinating seeds is to overcome these delay mechanisms. With 95% of the species studied, the delay mechanisms are chemical in nature. Typically these chemical blocking systems are destroyed by drying, light, or varying temperature cycles.In the first principle of mechanistic chemistry if treatment A, or conditions A are required to get germination under conditions B, critical processes were taking place during A and these were likely taking place at their optimum rates (greatest speeds).Thus if a period of 3 months at 4°C is required to get germination at 21°C, the period at 4°C was a time when something was happening (typically destruction of germination inhibitors), and it is misleading to refer to this period as a period of dormancy or a period of breaking dormancy.