Effects of mucilage on seed germination of the desert ephemeral plant Plantago minuta Pall. under osmotic stress and cycles of wet and dry conditions

摘要

To test the role of the seed mucilage of Plantago minutaPall. in regulating germination under osmotic stress and cycles of hydration and dehydration, two experiments were carried out using seeds with intact mucilage and mucilage-free seeds. In Experiment 1 seeds were immersed in a range of iso-osmotic polyethylene glycol solutions (-1.15 to 0MPa) for 14 days; any ungerminated seeds were transferred to deionized water to investigate the recovery germination. In Experiment 2 seeds were immersed in deionized water for 24h, and were then incubated on filter paper for an additional 13 days to ensure complete desiccation before reimbibition to test the germination recovery percentage. Under mild osmotic stress (-0.73 to 0MPa), the intact seeds with mucilage were shown to have higher germination rates than the mucilage-free seeds, indicating that the mucilage led to a fast sprouting germination strategy under mild osmotic stress. However, when seeds were exposed to high osmotic stress (-1.15MPa), the mucilage apparently slowed the germination rate, resulting in a risk-balancing germination strategy. Extreme drought induced by polyethylene glycol solution and the desiccation pretreatment accelerated germination rates compared to non-pretreated seeds; both germination potential and recovery percentage of the mucilage seeds were significantly higher than that of the mucilage-free seeds. Our results revealed that the seed mucilage of P.minuta plays a crucial role in regulating seed germination rates and the germination strategies adopted by controlling seed water absorption when the seeds experience different osmotic stresses or alternating wet and dry conditions.