Open Access

ARTICLE

Substrate, Hormone, Winnowing, and Stratification Influence the Seed Germination of Ilex asprella (Hook. et Arn.) Champ. ex Benth

Yuquan Huang^1,2, Fan Wei¹, Qing Ma², Yang Lin¹, Jinpeng Huang², Yanxia Zhu^1,*, Danfeng Tang^1,*

1 Guangxi Key Laboratory of Medicinal Resources Protection and Genetic Improvement, Guangxi Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants, Nanning, 530000, China
2 Research and Development Center, China Resources Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, 518000, China

* Corresponding Authors: Yanxia Zhu. Email: ; Danfeng Tang. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(7), 2105-2116. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2023.029205

Received 07 February 2023; Accepted 14 March 2023; Issue published 29 May 2023

Abstract

Ilex asprella (Hook. et Arn.) Champ. ex Benth is one of the most important traditional Chinese medicines in southern China. The seeds of Ilex asprella usually have extremely low germination due to their dormancy characteristics, which severely impacts the efficiency of seedling raising and increases labor costs. In this study, to improve the seed germination of I. asprella, the effects of germination substrate, hormone, winnowing, and stratification treatments on the seed germination of I. asprella were investigated. The results of the germination matrix showed that the highest germination percentage of 45.2% was achieved under the 20°C/10°C day/night temperature and vermiculite germination medium conditions. The results of hormone treatments revealed that 100–400 mg/L of gibberellin (GA) and 50–100 mg/L of salicylic acid (SA) were found to be effective in releasing the dormancy of I. asprella seeds. Moreover, winnowing could effectively eliminate unsaturated seeds and impurities, thus improving the seed germination of I. asprella. Furthermore, warm temperature (15°C) stratification could expand the temperature range of I. asprella’s seed germination, which was beneficial for seed germination of I. asprella and for seed nursery at room temperature in production practice. The present study obtained a method to break dormancy and increase seed germination in I. asprella, thereby forming a groundwork for improving the efficiency of large-scale planting of I. asprella.

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Keywords

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