Factors Affecting Germination of Citronmelon (Citrullus lanatusvar.citroides)

Abstract

Citron melon is a monoecious, hairy annual vine commonly found in citrus orchards, and cotton and peanut fields. Information is not available on the effect of various environmental factors on the germination of citron melon. Laboratory and greenhouse experiments were carried out in 2011 and 2012 to determine the effect of light, temperature, salinity, pH, simulated water stress, and depth of sowing on the germination of citron melon. Citron melon germination was affected by various environmental factors. Highest germination was observed at day/night temperatures of 25/20 to 30/25 C regardless of light conditions. At temperatures below 25 C and beyond 35 C, germination declined and was higher under dark condition than light. Germination decreased as osmotic potential became more negative (−0.3 MPa to −1.5 MPa) and salt concentration increased (50 to 350 mM). No germination was observed at > −0.9 MPa and ≥ 300 mM salt concentrations. However, germination was observed over a broad range of pH (3 to 9) and up to 10-cm sowing depths. Seeds sown at the surface did not germinate but maximum germination (88 to 96%) occurred at 2- to 4-cm depth. The results of this study suggest that citron melon can grow in a wide range of climatic conditions and therefore can persist in Florida because of favorable weather and environmental conditions.

Effect of maturation time on dormancy and germination of Citrullus colocynthis (Cucurbitaceae) seeds from the Arabian hyper-arid deserts

“…Sugar Baby [ 34 ], and C. lanatus var. citroides [ 35 ]. In addition, seed germination of other species of Cucurbitaceae is sensitive to the germination temperature.…”

Effects of Environmental Factors on Seed Germination and Emergence of Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti)

“…The concentration required for 50% inhibition of maximum germination was 70.6 mM NaCl ( Figure 6A). The maximum concentration at which no seed could germinate for barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) (Sadeghloo et al, 2013), citronmelon (Ramirez et al, 2014), Japanese brome (Li et al, 2015), muskweed (Honarmand et al, 2016), and spotted spurge (Asgarpour et al, 2015) was 400, 300, 360, 250, and 160 mM NaCl, respectively. These results showed that velvetleaf is not tolerant to salinity as compared with the above weed species, which could germinate at high NaCl concentration.…”

Understanding dormancy breakage and germination ecology of Cynara cardunculus (Asteraceae)

“…In many cases, when dormancy level is sufficiently low, seeds lose their requirement of alternating temperatures and/or light to germinate and can germinate under a wide range of constant temperatures (Benech‐Arnold et al ., ). Knowledge about the way in which the environment modulates dormancy alleviation in weed species is useful to predict germination and seedling emergence patterns in the field, and to develop rational strategies of weed management (Ramirez et al ., ). Up to now, factors affecting dormancy alleviation of C. cardunculus achenes have not been assessed.…”