Investigation the effect of different treatments of seed dormancy breaking on germination Taverniera cuneifolia

The genus Taverniera from Fabaceae family is one of the most valuable plant species compatible with desert areas, which is very important in terms of forage production, soil conservation, and medicinal properties. The current research was carried out to investigate the effect of different treatments on seed dormancy breaking and germination stimulation of taverniera cuneifolia. Dormancy breaking treatments included H2SO4 (50% and 75% for 5 and 10 min.), scarification with sandpaper (for 1 min.), KNO3 (0.1% and 0.2% for 24 and 48 h.), hot water (70 and 90 ℃, each for 15 min.) and hydropriming (for 36 h.) with three replications. Results revealed that H2SO4 (75% for 5 min.) led to the highest germination speed and seed vigor index and the lowest mean germination time. Also, maximum germination percentage (78%) was observed under this treatment. Scarification with sandpaper also exhibited considerable effect on the germination percentage (76%). Thus, H2SO4 (75% for 5 min.) and scarification with sandpaper would be suggested as the most efficient treatments to break seed dormancy of Taverniera cuneifolia.