Soil sterilization and seed scarificationdetermine germination of nine species of Mediterranean shrubby legumes

Resumen

Seedling germination, was assessed in nine leguminous species (Cytisus balansae, C. multiflorus, C. scoparius, C. striatus, Genista cinerea, G. florida, G. hystrix, Echinospartum barnadesii and Retama sphaerocarpa.) sown in 15 soils representative of the central-west of Spain. Prior to germination experiments, two treatments were applied to the seeds: mechanical scarification and no scarification. Two treatments were applied to the soils: sterilisation and non-sterilisation. The experiment showed that there is no apparent phenotypic plasticity in any of the species studied.Cytisus balansae, C. multiflorus, C. striatus and R. sphaerocarpa attained the highest percentage of seedling emergence when sown in sterile soils from their natural habitats whereas, C. scoparius seedling emergence was inhibited when sown in its own soil that had been sterilised.All seed needed scarification to germinate. Sterilisation treatments had no effect on seedling emergence in G. cinerea, G. florida, G. hystrix nor on E. barnadesii.