Improvement Of seed Germination of Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) by Using In Vitro Conditions

The hazelnut is one of the major world nut crops and Iran stands in eighth place of its word production. This plant usually is propagated by layering and seed propagation of hazelnut is done rarely owing to hard seed coat and internal dormancy of the seeds. In vitro seed germination can be useful to hazelnut propagation in short time and production of improved cultivars. In this experiment, the effects of light (darkness, light-darkness), pretreatment (cold and GA3), seed form (complete and halved seed) and medium (MS, 1412"> MS, WPM and RMS) have been investigated on seed germination, root length and shoot height. The results showed that seed germination of hazelnut occurred only in darkness and the culture of halved seeds after cold pretreatment on 1412"> MS had the maximum seed germination, while the highest root length (10.8 cm) was obtained by complete seed in MS medium and without pretreatment (control). Also, the maximum height of the shoots (6.9 cm) was obtained by complete seed in RMS medium and without pretreatment. Overall, in vitro culture of the hazelnut seeds, in comparison with classic seed culture in pot, improved the seed germination and the plant production.