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Delayed Germination of California Oatgrass, Danthonia californica 1
Author(s) -
Laude Horton M.
Publication year - 1949
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1949.00021962004100090002x
Subject(s) - technician , library science , germination , citation , engineering , horticulture , biology , computer science , electrical engineering
/^^ALIFORNIA oatgrass, Danthonia californica Bo^-> land, is a long-lived perennial bunch grass found throughout range lands in the western United States. The species has almost disappeared from heavily grazed areas and efforts are now being made to encourage its re-establishment (s). Reported instances of difficulty in reseeding the grass and our own failures to get stands in experimental work led to this investigation into the nature of seed germination in this species. Germination within the genus has been studied' by several investigators. The poor germination of Danthonia spicata was improved by sulfuric acid treatment and by prechilling the seed according to Toole (7) who considered restriction of gas exchange through the seed coat as the primary cause of difficulty. Trumble (9) related low germination of Danthonias to the "obstructiveness of the flowering glume", and reported that treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid markedly stimulated germination under both field and laboratory conditions (8). Cockayne (4) suggested that poor germination of. Danthonia in New Zealand may result from the seed being harvested before it is sufficiently mature. He considered that good lines should germinate over 80%, but that an average germination of 50% is satisfactory. The slow establishment and slow seedling growth of Danthonia was stressed by Cashmore (2). After studying numerous samples of six species this investigator concluded that the viability and rate of germination of the seed is largely a function of the strain used. Moore (6) reported difficulty in obtaining a stand from dehulled seed of Danthonia semi-annularis when sown with a drill. He considered that dehulled seed is likely to be planted at too great a depth, and concluded that best results are obtained when the seed is planted not deeper than ^ inch and at a time when soil is likely to remain moist for 2 to 3 weeks. In p'reliminary trials at Davis in 1946 with two lots of California oatgrass seed planted in greenhouse soil, seedling emergence of less than 3% was obtained with