Seed Dormancy and Germination Characteristics of Rumex obtusifolius

Thi Hien Le1   Sug-Won Roh2   Mirjalol Umurzokov1   Aung Bo Bo1   Weiqiang Jia1   Kwang Min Cho3,*   Kee Woong Park1,*   

1Department of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea
2Rural Development Administration Food Crop Industry Technology Service Division, Jeonju 54875, Korea
3Daeseung Bio Farm Research Center, Daejeon 34127, Korea

Abstract

Exotic weeds are considered as one of the major threats for agro-ecosystem and global food security. Since, Rumex obtusifolius is one of the dominant exotic weeds in Korean landscape, turfgrass, or river banks, there is an urgency for its efficient management to protect the Korean agro-ecosystem. This study was conducted to investigate the germination characteristics under various environmental conditions such as seed dormancy, temperature, salt stress as well as effect of soil depths on seed emergence. R. obtusifolius seeds germinated 100% until 30 days after harvesting (DAH), after that the seed germination rate started to decrease until 270 DAH. The germination rate recovered from 300 DAH and finally reached 98.3% 360 DAH. Optimum temperature for R. obtusifolius seed germination was 25/15℃ to 30/20℃ (day/night). NaCl greatly affected the germination of R. obtusifolius seeds. Less than 50% of seeds germinated at 20 mM of NaCl and ceased at 320 mM. R. obtusifolius seedling emergence was strongly inhibited by burial depth. The germination declined with increasing the soil depth and stopped where the burial depth exceeded 3 cm. These results could be useful to develop integrated exotic weed management in the R. obtusifolius infested area in Korea.

Figures & Tables

Fig. 2. Effect of salinity on the germination of seeds. The means and standard deviations were calculated from three replications. a-g: Letters indicates significant differences ( <0.05) according to Duncan’s multiple range test.