Comparison of germination characteristics in different populations of Achillea wilhelmsii C.Koch seeds on control and pre-chilling conditions

Achillea wilhelmsii is one of the forage and medicinal plant in Iran. This plant is in danger, because of illegal collecting from wild resources for medicinal and hygienic uses. The objective of this study was to establish the effects of pre-chilling on germination treats in 23 populations of Achillea wilhelmsii. The seeds were collected from different provinces. This study was conducted by factorial based on completely randomized design. The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of population×treatment on A. wilhelmsii seeds germination treats were highly significant different (p<0.01). Comparison of mean of germination treats on control and pre-chilling conditions showed that the pre-chilling increase the mean of rate of germination, length of plumule and decrease length of radicle and ratio of radicle to plumule, but no effect on percent of germination, length of seedling and vigor index of seed. The most of value of rate of germination was found in populations, 9820 (Kordestan-Divandareh) and 9961(Kordestan-Sanandaj) on pre-chilling condition and the most of percent of germination was found in populations 9820 (Kordestan- Divandareh) and 19489 (Kordestan-Baneh) on pre-chilling and control condition respectively. The population 9961 (Kordestan-Sanandaj) had the most of value of length of radicle, length of seedling, vigor index of seed on control and most of value of length of plumule on pre-chilling condition. So, pre-chilling increase rate of germination and no effect on germination percent of seeds, length of seedling and vigor index of seed of Achillea wilhelmsii.