Urban Bergsten

Invigoration and IDS-sedimentation of Pinus sylvestris seeds from northern Finland.

Bergsten U. (1988). Invigoration and IDS-sedimentation of Pinus sylvestris seeds from northern Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 22 no. 4 article id 5364. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15521

Abstract

In Northern Finland as well as in Northern Sweden there is a shortage of high-quality Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seeds, mostly due to unsuitable temperatures during the development and maturation of cones and seeds. Methods have been developed for elimination of non-productive seeds and for invigoration of seeds. In the present work, these methods were tested on poorly developed seed lot from Rovaniemi, Northern Finland (66°15’–66°30’; 180 m a.s.l.). The seeds were conditioned using the following treatments:

1. PREVAC method (5 min, 97 kPa below atmospheric pressures) for removal of mechanically damaged seeds (7%)

2. Invigoration using incubation at controlled moisture content (30% f.w) and continuous air supply, for 14 days at 5°C.

3. Additional water supply for 16 hours at 5°C.

4. Drying in dehumidified air until a near maximum difference in density between viable and dead seeds was obtained

5. Separation in a sedimentation flume to achieve a gradient of fractions of different germination rate and capacity.

The treatments resulted in an improvement of germination percentage from 33 to about 95% and a reduction in mean germination time from 8.8 days to 6 days if the control and the best fractions (32% seeds) were compared.

Keywords
Pinus sylvestris; germination; Scots pine; northern Finland; seed quality; elimination of non-productive seeds; invigoration of seeds

Published in 1988

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15521 | Download PDF