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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Plant Introduction Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #109219
Title: GERMINATING WILD SUNFLOWER SPECIES

Author
item Brothers, Mary
item Larsen, Irvin
item Kovach, David

Submitted to: Proceedings Sunflower Research Workshop
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/21/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Nine wild sunflower (Helianthus) species (H. annuus, H. argophyllus, H. debilis subsp. debilis, H. maximilianii, H. neglectus, H. niveus supsp. canescens, H. petiolaris subsp. petiolaris, H. praecox subsp. praecox, and H. tuberosus) were used to investigate the effectiveness of four germination techniques. The germination treatments were cold stratification, gibberellic acid treatment, combined gibberellic acid and cold stratification treatment, and a control treatment. The combined gibberellic acid and cold stratification treatment yielded the best germination results as measured by the percentage of plants grown to the first true-leaf stage. This germination treatment is a relatively simple procedure to overcome seed dormancy and a description of the protocol will be included along with wild sunflower seed samples distributed to our germplasm requestors.