Table 3.
Germination characteristics of black and brown seed morphs of Suaeda splendens after five different NaCl treatments
| Germination characteristics |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed type | NaCl treatment (mol m−3) | Dark germination ( %) | Additional germination ( %) | First germination (d) | MTG (d) | Final germination ( %) |
| Black | 0 | 10 ± 2·0a | 74 ± 5·0 | 7 ± 2·3 | 15 ± 0·8 | 84 ± 5·2 |
| 200 | 7 ± 1·9a | 84 ± 4·9 | 8 ± 2·0 | 15 ± 1·6 | 91 ± 4·1 | |
| 400 | 0 ± 0·0b | 94 ± 8·3 | 8 ± 1·3 | 15 ± 0·7 | 94 ± 8·3 | |
| 600 | 0 ± 0·0b | 95 ± 5·3 | 10 ± 0·8 | 15 ± 0·5 | 95 ± 5·3 | |
| 900 | 0 ± 0·0b | 95 ± 6·4 | 9 ± 0·7 | 14 ± 0·7 | 95 ± 6·4 | |
| Brown | 0 | 40 ± 1·6a | 12 ± 6·9 | 2 ± 0·3 | 7 ± 2·4 | 52 ± 7·1 |
| 200 | 30 ± 2·0ab | 14 ± 5·3 | 3 ± 0·6 | 11 ± 2·5 | 44 ± 4·3 | |
| 400 | 24 ± 1·6b | 25 ± 5·3 | 1 ± 0·0 | 10 ± 0·7 | 49 ± 6·6 | |
| 600 | 5 ± 1·0c | 37 ± 3·4 | 1 ± 0·2 | 8 ± 1·7 | 42 ± 3·5 | |
| 900 | 0 ± 0·0d | 37 ± 5·0 | 2 ± 0·0 | 6 ± 2·1 | 37 ± 5·0 | |
The different NaCl treatments were applied under diurnally alternating temperatures (10 h at 5 °C/14 h 15 °C) in the dark for 30 d. This was followed by transfer to distilled water under alternating temperature and light (10 h dark at 5 °C/14 h light at 15 °C). Germination in darkness ( %), additional germination, days to first germination and mean time-to-germination (MTG), all after transfer to distilled water and alternating light; total germination ( %) = dark germination + additional germination. Different letters indicate treatment means for each characteristic that are significantly different (Tukey test; P < 0·05).