Enhancing Germination and Seedling Vigor Efficiency of Stachys byzantina C. Koch: Synergistic Effects of Temperature, Growth Medium, and Seed Treatments

Author(s)

Sanaa Khalaf Ghabish AL HAFEDH , Betul AKIN , Ammar Majid AL ZEARA ,

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Volume 9 - June 2025 (06)

Abstract

This study optimised Stachys byzantina germination protocols using a completely randomised design with four replicates, analysed via ANOVA and Tukey's HSD (α = 0.05). Three germination methods were compared: standard Petri dish, tissue culture (Murashige Skoog medium), and in soil. Seeds were subjected to varying temperatures (16/22 °C, 25 °C) and pretreatments to assess germination parameters and seedling quality. Results indicated that 25 °C significantly improved germination rates (39.83%), root length (4.89 cm), shoot length (4.55 cm), leaves number (6.67), and seedling vigor index (SVI: 396.8) compared to 16/22 °C. Seed treatments generally outperformed untreated seeds. MS medium with GA₃ (10 ppm) and mechanical scarification+100 ppm GA₃ yielded the highest germination percentage and SVI, demonstrating a synergistic effect between hormonal priming and dormancy breaking, promoting superior root and shoot growth. Contrarily, alternating temperatures (16/22 °C) only reduced mean germination time (MGT), while germination rates remained lower than at 25 °C.  The germination of S. byzantina in soil at 25 °C significantly enhanced germination efficiency (50.59%) with a notably short MGT (1.80 days), highlighting the temperature's role in balancing germination efficiency and seedling resilience. The findings emphasise the need for temperature-specific protocols, favouring a stable 25 °C, in addition to physical and hormonal treatments for robust establishment versus alternating regimes for rapid germination and seedling vigor in controlled settings.

Keywords

Stachys byzantina, Germination temperature, Growth medium, Seed treatments, Germination, Seedling vigor.

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