Improvement of germination characteristics in Pinuss brutia, P. eldarica and P. pinea by soaking seeds in water

Uniformity and emergence rate of seeds can have a great effect on the yield and quality of the production, therefore, it is very important to find a strategy to boost germination and plant establishment and also be affordable. One of the best treatments to improve germination is seed soaking technique. In this way, seeds are treating with water, without using any chemical materials. This study performed separately on three kinds of pine seeds species as P. brutia, P. eldarica and P. pinea with three replicates as completely randomized block aiming to improve germination characteristics by soaking treatments (1, 2, 3 and 7 days). Then the germination characteristics including germination rate, germination energy, maximum mean daily germination, mean daily germination, germination speed, mean time for germination and germination value were investigated. Results showed that, there was significant difference among treatments and germination characteristics in all three species and all the studied characteristics were improved under soaking treatments.