Wild Barley (Hordeum spontaneum Koch) Seed Germination as Affected by Dry Storage Periods, Temperature Regimes and Glumellae Characteristics

After dry storage, germination of newly harvested intact and naked seeds of wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum Koch) were determined at 20. C. Intact seeds did not germinate after 8 weeks whereas, naked seeds germinated and no significant differences between dry storage periods were observed for germination of these seeds. Cold stratification periods had no effect on germination percentages of non-dormant seeds of wild barley. The minimum, optimum, and maximum temperatures for germination of wild barley seeds were 5, 20, and 30. C, respectively. Results showed that wild barley glumellae had either physical or chemical effects on seeds germination because, all naked seeds germinated but when intact seeds were rinsed in ethanol 70% and distilled water, the germination percentage were 0 and 54%, respectively, which was lower than that of naked and intact seeds.