I am trying to micro propagate one medicinal plant which is of the Caesalpinaceae family, but it is very difficult to germinate the seeds of that plant because of their very thick seed coating. I used a ferric cyanide treatment, hot water treatment but there is no result, even after the seed became entirely brownish in colour.
please try different concentrations of concentrated HCL and sulphuric acid. however, you have to standardize the concentration so as to save proper germination potential. sometimes, higher concentrations may kill the cotyledons thereby check germination. i have succeeded in germinating the Caesalpinaceae family members using the above acids. all the best.
Hello Arunkumar, you can try to be difficult due to low seed vigor, if they are stored for a long time, but this is not the reason, you can use the chiseling, sanding through thick, opposite the hilum, otherwise it would be soaking in natural water longer and go changing the water regularly, allowing the washing of some allelopathic compound that is inhibiting germination. As its focus is on tissue culture, one alternative would be the use of the embryo excised aseptically being done before inoculation,
I hope to have collaborated, good work!
For hard seeds, one alterative is the imersion in sulfuric acid PA, for few minutes, and washing.
Some seeds have long dormancy periods. But this period can be caused by different factors. These factors may be of a different nature - chemical (presence), mechanical (thick seed coat), or physiological (need for some temperature stratification). Also there are possible different combinations of these factors. You must study special literature about what factors are most significant in caesalpiniaceae seed dormancy.
In case the seed coat is very thick, it may be possible to apply mechanical scarification of seeds by sand or other abrasive agents. If any inhibitors of germination are present in the seed coat, you must either remove these substances from the seed coat (for example, by soaking in water or applying some reagents which are able to neutralize or degrade inhibitors) or fully remove the seed coat to avoid embryo damage.
In the case of a physiological dormancy period seeds need temperature stratification for a time period. Sometimes humidity and light are also important in this procedure.
It is also possible to apply water solutions of some hormones which act as activators of germination, such as auxine, hibbereline and other. Some commercial preparates based on plant hormones for activation of germination already exist.
please try different concentrations of concentrated HCL and sulphuric acid. however, you have to standardize the concentration so as to save proper germination potential. sometimes, higher concentrations may kill the cotyledons thereby check germination. i have succeeded in germinating the Caesalpinaceae family members using the above acids. all the best.
Hello, I had the same problem with seeds of rheum ,I soaked the seeds for few days in water and then removed their seed coat and then treated them with 100ppm of gibberllic acid which helped me to overcome the dormancy of these seeds.you can try that also.
Hello, we also had similar problems while working with a tree species legume(Albizzia), but we overcame the hard seedcoat imposed dormancy of this species by treating seeds with conc Sulphuric acid at different time interval and also by chipping/nicking i.e., by cutting a part of the seedcoat along with some cotyledons at the opposite end of the hilum and put for germination.
carob seeds (Caesalpinaceae family)) when treated with sulfuric acid for 1/2 h with stirring with a glass rod, rinsed thoroughly with tap water, had an even germination after 1 day. See Spyropoulos and Lampiris JEB (1980 31: 851-857,
You presoak the seeds in luke warm water for 24 hours,when the seed coat gets ruptured then,treat with gibberlic acid near about 8 ppm.
You try to break the seed coat by scarification/by manually peeling the outer seed coat with razor blade without touching the seed embryo and endosperm.
In Hungary, this plant is not known, so it has no direct my thoughts. The black locust, however, we have successfully applied to the seed coat abrasion "szkarifikációt ', mejnek during thinning, scratches on core external hard surface. Sandpaper until dörzs9ljök the seeds while apparently tapering of the core outer shell, but still visible without violating the core internal components.
It is worth a try to see if it works ..
A couple of suggestions to the many already proffered should the problem continue AND should the material in question be viable (many seemingly sound seeds aren't):
- Even if the Cæsalpinia sp in question is not a pyrophyte, the heat in rotting manure - sometimes used with slow-germinating oil and other palm seeds - may accelerate germination. Placement in warm to hot decomposing compost for days (¿or weeks?) may have a similarly effect.
- Some seeds putatively require passage through a herbivore's gut. Might that be the case here?
I hope you will tell us in due course what strategy worked best.
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