Effects of water stress on germination of Pinus nigra Arnold. seeds

Abstract

Climate change, global warming and the deterioration of related environmental conditions cause an important problem for forest tree species. For this reason, it is necessary to determine the response of trees to these conditions. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of water stress on seed germination of fifteen Pinus nigra Arnold. provenances in Turkey. For this purpose, the water stresses between 0 and -8.0 bars were obtained using polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG) solutions. Seeds were kept for 35 days at 20 ± 0.5°C. In this study, significant variations between the provenances were found. Ankara Uluhan (% 95, 08) and Isparta Tota (% 85, 41) provenances at -8.0 bars having the highest cumulative germination percentages were the most resistant provenances against the water stress. This study has shown that the water stress reduced the germination speed, germination percentage and germination value.