Seed Dormancy and Germination Characteristics of Vaccinium oldhamii Miq. (Ericaceae).

Vaccinium oldhamii Miq. is an edible berry; however, little is known about its seed dormancy-break and germination. Therefore, the aim of this study was to elucidate the seed-dormancy break and germination characteristics of V. oldhamii. The results showed that the length and width of the seeds of V. oldhamii were 2.4588 ± 0.0273 mm and 1.7028 ± 0.0248 mm, respectively, the filled percentage was 49.0 ± 3.0%, and the 1000-seed weight was 0.9453 g. Additionally, water imbibition test showed that the seed weight of V. oldhamii increased by more than 70% after 24 h, indicating the absence of physical dormancy. Embryo length measured at dispersal and just before germination did not differ significantly. There was no significant difference in E:S (Embryo:Seed) ratio in length at the time of seed dispersal (0.6780 ± 0.0258) and before germination (0.7370 ± 0.0469), indicating the absence of morphological dominance. Temperature treatments showed that the germination of the seed was 0, 6.0, 6.0, 20.0, and 0% under 15, 20, 25, 25/15, and 15/6 °C, respectively. However, treatment with 250 ppm of GA₃ increased the germination of the seeds to 22.0, 36.0, 32.0, 40.0, and 1.0%, respectively. Additionally, treatment with 500 ppm of GA₃ increased the germination to 34.6, 40.0, 40.0, 46.0 %, respectively. These results indicated that the seeds of V. oldhamii exhibited Nondeep physiological dormancy (Nondeep PD). Overall, the findings of this study showed that treatment with 500 ppm of GA₃ at 25/15 °C can effectively break the dormancy of V. oldhamii seeds, which could facilitate further research on the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]