TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE PHASE DURING GERMINATION OF ARTICHOKE ´SEED´

Imbibition of artichoke “seeds” at higher temperatures inhibits germination and reduces seedling emergence in the field.
The seeds become less sensitive to high temperature exposition if imbibition occurs at low non-inhibitor temperatures.
To ascertain the phase of sensibility to high temperatures, “seeds” of cultivars 137 and ‘044’ were exposed to high inhibitory temperatures for germination (35°C), for 4 and 8 h, at different times after imbibition starting and repeated 0, 1, 2 or 3 times for a total of 37 treatments.
The results showed that the cv. 137 was less sensitive than ‘044’ to high temperature treatments; germination percentage (GP), germination value (GV) and the percentage of abnormal seedlings (PAS) were higher in ‘137’.
Thermal treatment had a great influence on germination characteristics.
The main effect of “seeds” exposure to 35 °C was to reduce the GP and the GV and to increase the PAS compared to the seeds treated at 15/25 °C.
Eight hours of imbibition to high temperature reduced GP more than 4 h and increased the PAS. With 4 h treatments, the most sensitive phase to high temperature was when treatments started 96 h from the beginning of imbibition, while with 8 h of treatment the most sensitive phase was between 48 and 120 h after the start of imbibition.
By increasing the number (1 to 3) and the duration (8+8 or 8+8+8 h) of treatments, the GP decreased.

IV International Congress on Artichoke

G. Damato, N. Calabrese

(Cynara cardunculus L. subsp. scolymus (L.) Hayek); cultivar, seed treatments; germination percentage; abnormal seedling

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2005.681.51