INFLUENCE OF SOME HARDSEEDEDNESS-BREAKING TREATMENTS ON GERMINATION IN PERSIAN CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM RESUPINATUM SSP. TYPICUM FIORI ET PAOL.) SEEDS

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The objective of this investigation was to determine the effect of some hardseededness-breaking treatments on germination in Persian clover seeds of different colour. The investigation was carried out in the Analyses Laboratory of Field Crops Department at Agriculture Faculty, University of Namik Kemal, Turkey. Seeds were manually harvested after maturation from a permanent meadow of Persian clover growing in a xeralf soil in Gazioglu village (41.0° N, 27.5° E) of Tekirdag province (Turkey), during 2006 and 2007. Treatments of collected seeds included mechanical scarification, deep freeze, and chemical scarification using concentrated sulfuric acid for various durations. The non-viable seed ratio (% non-viable seeds after germination), and germination ratio (% germinated seeds after seven days), hardseededness ratio (%, not germinated seeds) in yellow, green, red and mixed colour Persian clover seeds was determined. Hardseededness ratios of seeds were reduced by all treatments. The applications of deep-freeze for 15 days, mechanical scarification for 5 minutes and chemical scarification for 15 minutes significantly improved the germination ratios of different colours seeds, up to 68.4-91.2%, 70.3-90.4%, and 67.4-90.1%, respectively. Red colour seed had the highest non-viable seed ratios in all treatments.