Effect of Dormancy Breaking Treatments and Seed Bed Medium on Seed Germination and Morphology of Capparis spinosa L. Seedlings

Two separate experiments was arranged in a randomized complete design in 4 replicates in order to evaluate agronomy aspects of cultivation and aim of evaluation effective treatments in breaking dormancy of native and valuable medicinal plant, Caper seeds (Mazdavand ecotype) and also to evaluate the best seed bed medium for germination of Caper seeds along with sustainable agricultural systems. Treatments in breaking dormancy test included control (distilled water), pre chilling (for 2 and 3 months), GA3 (250 and 500 ppm for 12 hours), KNO3 (0.2 and 0.5% for 12 hours), scarification with sandpaper (85%), seed coat removal, soaking in NaClO 0.5% for 5 minutes, scarification+250 ppm GA3, scarification+0.2% KNO3, scarification+250ppm GA3+0.2%KNO3. Treatments in evaluation the best seed bed medium experiment included control (soil of habitat), manure fertilizer, vermicompost and bio-fertilizer (phosphonitrokara). According to results of first examination, pre-chilling for 2 and 3 months were the best treatments for breaking dormancy (with 85% germination and 3.5 seeds per day germination rate). Also, results of evaluation the seed bed medium, showed that vermicompost had the highest germination percentage, highest number of leaves and the most seedling weight vigor index. Vermicompost and manure fertilizer had the highest leaf length, shoot length and seedling dry weight. Manure fertilizer and vermicompost, while creating sustainable agricultural conditions, increased the growth and improved morphological characteristics of the Caper medicinal plant seedlings.