Dormancy-breaking and salinity/water stress effects on seed germination of Atlas cypress, an endemic and threatened coniferous species in Morocco

Abstract

Atlas cypress (Cupressus atlantica Gaussen) is an endemic coniferous medicinal species geographically restricted to the N'Fis valley river in the High Atlas Mountains in SouthWestern Morocco. Eight dormancy-breaking treatments, 5 NaCl concentrations, and 5 water potentials were tested on the germination of Altas cypress seeds that had been stored in a cold room for 5 years after collecting from Aghbar population. Hand scarification, gibberellic acid and hot water increased the seed germination percentage (up to 75%), and mechanical scarification and gibberellic acid (1000, 2000 ppm) induced a faster speed germination. Soaking in sulfuric acid (10%) did not improve the seed germination of C. atlantica. In addition, salinity higher than 160 mM NaCl and water potential below-0.53 MPa drastically reduced seed germination.

Seed production and handling of two important conifers grown in Kenya

“…After 30 days of assessment, it was observed that germination performance was highest for seeds extracted from cones that had been soaked in cold water. Several studies have been conducted on the effects of soaking media on seed germination, with the present study focusing on soaking cypress cones in cold and hot water and their influences on germination [37][38][39][40].…”