Effect of provenance, mechanical and chemical treatments on seed viablility and germination rate of Robinia peseudoacacia

In arid climate area like Iran, selection of adapted species plays an important role for afforestation. Robinia peseudoacacia is fast growing and resistance to such an extreme heat and cold conditions of environment and can grow in unfertile soils but posses' seeds covered by hard coat. Therefore, success in planting and germination needed to application of some treatments to remove the coat. The aim of this study was the determination of the best provenances and treatments in terms of Robina seed survival and germination percentage for using in afforestations. The experiment was carried out using Robinia seeds collected from six provenance: Sabzevar, Semnan, Gorgan, Mazandaran, Tehran, and Kordestan using completely randomized design. Tetrazolium test was done for seeds viability. The scarification treatments such as acid, boiling water, oxygen peroxide, normal water, scarification with sandpaper were applied on seeds. The Results showed that scarification with sandpaper induced thehighest germination among all treatments and in the most of provenances. Moreover, the seed provenance had a significant effect in germination of Robinia seeds, therefore it can be introduced that the Gorgan and Tehran provenances are the best and the worst provenances with 73.03% and 48.18% germinating percentage, respectively.