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Effects of Seed Storage on Germination of Desert Halophytes with Transient Seed Bank

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Sabkha Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Tasks for Vegetation Science ((TAVS,volume 47))

Abstract

Some halophytes of the subtropical arid deserts produce fruits have a transient seed bank. The time of fruit ripening and shedding in these plants coincides with the onset of suitable conditions for germination and seedling establishment. Economic uses of plants with transient seed bank necessitate understanding environmental factors that would affect seed longevity under different storage conditions. Fresh seeds of both Salsola imbricata and Haloxylon salicornicum have high germination level and germination speed, and form a transient seed bank in nature. The impacts of storage period and condition on germination level and speed were assessed in the two species. In both species, 9 months storage did not affect germination percentage of seeds in fridge, but completely inhibited it in field seeds. The impacts of room and warm temperatures were in between cold and field storage. Storage significantly increased germinate rate index of seeds stored in all conditions till 17 months in S. imbricata and till 12 months in H. salicornicum. In both species, fridge storage had little effects on final germination and germination speed of seeds incubated at the different temperatures, compared to fresh seeds. However, room temperature and warm storages significantly reduced final germination and germination speed at the different temperatures, so the reduction was more pronounced at 35 °C, especially in H. salicornicum.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Science and Sharjah Research Academy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

    Ali El-Keblawy

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Education in Al-Arish, Suez Canal University, Ismaylia, Egypt

    Ali El-Keblawy

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  1. Ali El-Keblawy
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Correspondence to Ali El-Keblawy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization (ISHU), University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

    M. Ajmal Khan  & Bilquees Gul  & 

  2. Ecological Sciences Advisor – Ethiopia and African Union UNESCO Liaison Office in Addis Ababa with the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Benno Böer

  3. Botany Department & Center for Environmental Studies, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey

    Münir Öztürk

  4. Environmental Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) Marine Environment Research Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE

    Thabit Zahran Al Abdessalaam

  5. Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, UNESCO Headquarters Natural Sciences Sector, Paris, Cedex, France

    Miguel Clüsener-Godt

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El-Keblawy, A. (2014). Effects of Seed Storage on Germination of Desert Halophytes with Transient Seed Bank. In: Khan, M.A., Böer, B., Öztürk, M., Al Abdessalaam, T.Z., Clüsener-Godt, M., Gul, B. (eds) Sabkha Ecosystems. Tasks for Vegetation Science, vol 47. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7411-7_7

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