I have tried germinating the seeds in the growth chamber, I sterilised them with bleach, sulphuric acid an ethanol on separate occasions, no success yet. what do I do?
There are many factors involved in seed dormancy. They mainly have to do with an ecological advantage if seed do not germinate directly under the flower of if all do not germinate in the same season in case there is a subsequent drought or fire.
The two main factors are
1. that the seed coat is so hard that water cannor be taken up into the seed and the seed remains dormant for a long time antil microbial action has broken the seed coat. If the seed is large enough you can try filing through the seed coat on the back of the seed. This frequently helps. Antiher possibility with small see is to place in in concentrated suphuric acid and take it our after different periods. (If the seed coat is broken and sulphuric acid enters it will kill the seed.)
2, Many seed contain an endogenous germination inhibitor. After some time in the spoil the inhibitor is leached out and the seed will germinate. What you can try is to place the seeg in cloth and to hang it under a tao that i slightly open so that a small stream of water flows over it for a day or two.
In some cases seed is just not viable because pollination did not take place. Some seed of plants that grow after fires germinate when a compound in the smoke enters the seed.
Hope it works, seed germination is a fascinating topic!
As described fully by Jacobus your first priority is to determine that it is practical to expect your seeds to germinate? However if you check in literature there are many techniques which could help to germinate similar seeds.
For example you can float them in a small amount of liquid and pour it over an agar medium in petri dishes (usually just water and agar is enough but some use basal mediums like MS). You can autoclave the medium. Regarding the seeds a harsh sterilizing process like you explained may cause damage to seeds.
Adding some agents to medium may enhance germination or sometimes help to overcome dormancy so you can try Gibberellic acid.
Using some soaking treatments like potassium nitrate is reported to be useful in some plants.
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