To Compare the priming and pre-chilling treatment on seed germination, vigor and seedling appearance improvement in some populations of Tripleurospermum sevanense species

Pseudo Chamomile (Tripleurospermum sevanense) is medicinal and aromatic plant. This plant is growing in natural habitats of Iran. In this study, emergence enhancement of seed and seedlings vigor of three populations, were compared with priming technique and pre-chilling treatment. A factorial experiment based on randomized complete design with three replication and six treatment was conducted in laboratory (2010) and greenhouse (2011) in Research Institute of Forests and Range Lands. The priming treatments including: [GA3 (125 and 250ppm), KNO3 (0.5 and 1%), distilled water (control)] and moist chilling at 4°C. In laboratory experiment, the results of treatments on seed germination characteristics of 17952-Fars population showed that maximum germination (96%), fresh weight (97.33 mg) were obtained with effect of potassium nitrate. With effect GA3, speed of germination (18.7 sprout/day) Vigor index (127.91) were more than control and other treatments, meanwhile in greenhouse experiment, effect of treatments on seedling appearance characteristics of above population showed that potassium nitrate treatment had more significant effect on seedling appearance percentage (85.55%), seedling length(103/46mm), seedling vigor index (88.35) control and other treatments. On the base of results, it is recommended for cultivation and domestication of medicinal species, especially in spring, priming technique would e used for uniform germination and seedling appearance