Effects of seed sowing methods on emergence and seedling growth of some Rhododendron species

OpenAlex İngilizce

This study was conducted to determine the effects of different seed sowing methods on emergence rate, densities of seedling emergence and seedling growth of five Rhododendron species (Rhododednron ponticum L., R. luteum Sweet, R. caucasicum Pallas, R. simirnowii Trautv and R. ungernii Trautv). Four different sowing methods were tested, namely manual sowing in row (control), mixing with plant agar, mixing with Murashige and Skoog Basal medium (MS) and mixing with stream sand. The highest seed emergence rates were obtained by manual sowing in row (control) with R. ponticum species (76%) followed by R. luteum (66.6%), R. smirnowii (55.33%), R. ungernii (24%) and R. caucasicum (15.33%), respectively. Similarly, the values closest to ideal seed distribution for homogenous seedling density were obtained by hand-sowing in row method. The highest seedling height was obtained in MS medium with R. ponticum (2.11 cm), followed by R. luteum (3.08 cm), R. smirnowii (4.07 cm), and R. ungernii (1.39 cm), while the effect of seeding method on seedling growth of R. caucasicum species was not significant. To conclude, the best homogeneous distribution of seedling emergence densities of Rhododendron species was obtained by controlled manual seeding method. However, the seed sowing with MS mixing increased significantly seedling growth in all Rhododendron species.