Improvement of seed germination and seedlings growth of Pistacia khinjuk using physical and chemical treatments

Pistacia khinjuk, from Anacardiaceae family, is one of the important forest species.In order to break the seed dormancy and increase the germination percentage and rate, and early growth of Pistacia khinjuk seedlings, factorial experiment was conducted as completely randomized design in three replicates with Four factors including: scarification with two levels (control and sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) 98% for 10 minutes), stratification with three levels (control,  moist chilling in +4°C and dry chilling in -20°C), potassium nitrate (KNO₃) with three levels (0, 1% and 2%) and gibberellic acid (GA₃) with two levels (0 and 200 ppm) were studied. Evaluation of germination indices and seedling early growth showed that simultaneous effects of three treatments, i.e. scarification seeds with H₂SO₄ 98%, moist chilling and GA₃ 200 ppm, had the maximum effects on breaking seeds dormancy and increasing the seed germination percentage and rate and also seedling early growth.
Keywords: Scarification, Stratificatin, Potassium nitrate, Gibberllic acid