Germination Characteristics of Two Varieties of Kochia prostrata (L.) Schrad.

Abstract

Kochia prostrata (L.) Schrad. (prostrate summer cypress) is a perennial, half-shrub native to the arid and semiarid regions of Russia, central Europe, and the eastern Mediterranean. It is drought resistant, salt tolerant, winterhardy forage which is desirable for big game browse. K. prostrata has potential for revegetating critical areas on western rangelands. Since limited research has been reported on germination characteristics, the effects of harvest date, seed drying procedures, length of storage, and storage temperature on germination were evaluated for K. prostrata var. virescens and var. canescens. Seed was collected from nursery plots at the Squaw Butte Station, Burns, Ore., on 6 harvest dates (September 20 to November 9, 1978). Seed was aid-dried or dried at 30 degrees C for 24 hours and one seed lot was germinated immediately, while 3 seed lots were stored for 3 months at -18, 4, or 21 degrees C prior to germination trials. K. prostrata var. canescens consistently exhibited higher (p<.05) germination percentages than var. virescens. The effect of harvest date was also significant (p<.05) as both varieties exhibited higher average germination percentage at later harvest dates. Apparently, seeds of either variety did not fully mature until approximately October 20 during the 1978 growing season. Drying procedure affected germination only when seeds were stored for 3 months. Under these conditions air-dried seed had a higher (p<.05) average germination than dried (44.5 and 38.3%, respectively). Higher (p<.05) germination occurred following 3 months of storage at 4 degrees C for both varieties (69.4 and 37.9% for var. canescens and virescens, respectively). K. prostrata var. canescens collected on November 9, 1978, air-dried and stored for 3 months at 4 degrees C had the highest germination (97%).