Many studies have shown that water potential at planting will affect germination rate and final germination. Much less is known, however, about the effects of different temperatures at planting on seed germination. Our objectives were to compare the influence of different temperatures on the germination percentage and germination rate index of 20 forage legumes. Legume seedlings were grown for 10 d in polyethylene growth pouches placed in germination chambers and held in the dark at constant temperatures of 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 °C. There were major effects of temperature on germination rate and germination percentage for all 20 legume entries. If we define satisfactory germination as 80% germination at 10 d after planting, 18 of the 20 entries had satisfactory germination at some temperature between 10 and 30 °C. There were no significant effects of temperatures between 10 and 30 °C on germination percentage at 10 d for ‘Arlington’ red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and ‘Maxidor’ alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) entries. Since temperature had a strong influence on germination, seeding time for some legumes should be selected to match expected temperatures for particular locations.
Many studies have shown that water potential at planting affects the germination rate and final germination of Festuca cultivars. Limited information is available about the extent of variability in temperature-dependence of germination among different Festuca cultivars. Our objective was to study germination at five temperatures for a wide range of Festuca cultivars. Festuca seeds were screened for germination during 28 days in polyethylene growth pouches held at constant temperatures of 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30°C. The germination percentage significantly (p < 0.05) increased as the temperature increased from 10 to 15°C, when averaged across the cultivars, and decreased thereafter. The cultivar "Clemfine" tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) had the greatest germination percentage, and "Arctared" red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) had the least when averaged across the five temperatures. Conversely, the average time to germination (A tg ) was greatest at 10°C and least at 30°C. Reaching a germination level of 80% or more of the seeds required 14 days at 10°C, 9 d at 15°C, 8 d at 20°C, and 7 d at 25 or 30°C. Base
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