Comparison the Effect of Different Treatments for Breaking Seed Dormancy of Citrullus colocynthis

Abstract

Citrullus colocynthis is one of the major medic plants and it has many medical values. This plant adopts in desert regions and specifically in sand dunes. Forasmuch as seeds of this plant germinate not easily, so in this research tried to study about effect of different treatments for breaking seed dormancy, germination stimulus and growth of Citrullus colocynthis seeds. The treatments were include sulfuric acid 98% in 20 and 40 minutes time intervals, potassium nitrate 0.2% within 72 hours, hot water in 90 centigrade degree during 10 minutes and scratching by sand paper. For comparing this treatments and normal germination is used distilled water for control. Experiments were performed in a completely randomized design with four repetitions and six treatments. Results of variance analysis and mean comparison showed that there are significant statistical differences (0.01 levels) between treatments for percentage and velocity of germination, length of the Root and Shoot. The maximum percentage and velocity of germination and length of the Shoot obtain in scratching by sand paper treatment and results of other treatments were in lower level than this one. According to got results determined that scratching is the most suitable method for dominance on seed dormancy of Citrullus colocynthis species.