More on experiment!! Final?

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AEGrs

When I reported on my experiment about germination of seeds stored in
different ways, My "final" results were based on the numbers of seedlings
seen in each pot. However, I've just harvested the tubers from each of the
four pots, and now wish to announce some new "final" results!

To refresh your memories, here is part of what I reported earlier:

>>>>>>>>>>>>Four groups of 20 seeds from the same plant of Arisaema
sikokianum, a species which germinates readily when fresh, without any need
for a cold period, were subjected for 6 months to the following storage
methods:

a. refrigerated in berry, in glassine envelope
b. refrigerated removed from berry, in glassine envelope
c. room temp in berry, in paper envelope
d. room temp removed from berry, in paper envelope

After (a) and (c) were removed from the berry, all seeds were  soaked in a
detergent solution for 30 minutes, and then placed in damp towels on June 12,
1997. Radicles were developing by June 25 in all groups, and on June 29 all
seeds were planted in wet turface and placed under lights. At that point it
appeared that approximately 50% of each group had germinated.

However, the final results are quite different from the preliminary
impression.

a. germ 19 of 20
b.   "      17 of 20
c.   "      12 of 20
d.   "      10 of 20

While I'm no statistician and have forgotten all I ever learned about Chi
square, etc., I think it's clear that groups (a) and (b) ,the seeds
refrigerated in glassine envelopes, fared much better than (c) and (d), kept
at room temp. in paper envelopes, It made no significant difference if the
seeds were left in the berry or stored "bare".<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<



When these four pots were emptied today, imagine my surprise to find not only
small tubers corresponding to all of the seedlings that had emerged, but
also smaller tubers, about the size of a "BB", representing most of the seeds
that had been planted, but had not appeared.

Thus, the pots contained:

Pot a.  19 tubers, 1 "BB"      Total 20/20
Pot b.   17 tubers, 3 "BB"s    Total 20/20
Pot c.  12 tubers, 7 "BB"s     Total 19/20
Pot d.   10 tubers, 6 "BB"s    Total 16/20

The "BB" size tuberettes look exactly like the tiny tubers that form in
species that take a cold period before "germinating", such as many of us have
noted with A. elephas.

So, the conclusions are a bit different.

The bottom line is still that refrigerator storage seems to preserve seeds'
viability best, but that the difference is much less than thought originally.
It certainly can still be said that cold insures a higher initial germination
rate, but that seeds that don't germinate in the first cycle may still be
viable and will probably germinate after a cold period. One wonders how many
of the latter get discarded in the usual scheme of things.

I have segregated out the "BB" tubers and will give them three months of cold
and then replant.

Stay tuned for the nxt "final" results.

Jim McClements