Effect of heat shock on the germination of seeds of the species Acacia senegal L. and Acacia seyal Del. from sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia).

  1. Herrero, Celia 1
  2. Kassa, Amelework 2
  3. Pando, Valentín 3
  4. Bravo, Felipe 3
  5. Alía, Ricardo 4
  1. 1 ECM Ingenieria Ambiental, S.L. Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute. University of Valladolid-INIA.
  2. 2 Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute. University of Valladolid-INIA.
  3. 3 University of Valladolid Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute. University of Valladolid-INIA.
  4. 4 Forest Research Centre (INIA) Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute. University of Valladolid-INIA.
Revista:
Forest systems

ISSN: 2171-5068

Año de publicación: 2019

Volumen: 28

Número: 2

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.5424/FS/2019282-14227 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Forest systems

Resumen

Aim of the study: Understanding post-fire germination of tree species in arid and semi-arid zones of sub-Saharan Africa.Area of study: Ethiopian Acacia senegal L. and Acacia seyal Del. forests.Material and methods: Seeds were subjected to heat shocks at combinations of four temperatures (60º, 90º, 120º and 150ºC) and three exposure times (1, 5 and 10 minutes). A control was also included, resulting in a total of thirteen treatments. After the application of the heat shocks, the viability of no germinated seeds was assessed after immersion in a Tetrazolium solution. A mixed and a logistic model were used to analyse the influence of heat shock on germination.Main results: Results showed that germination depended on the species, the heat shock treatment and their interaction. Both species showed similar germination results at temperatures below 90ºC in all exposure times, however, germination in Acacia senegal was statistically higher in most of the heat shocks. On the other hand, germination probability decreased in both species, when the exposure time increased, although with a different behaviour. In 1 minute of time of exposure, the germination probability was higher than 60% in the two species throughout the temperature range. However, at 5 minutes of time and temperature smaller than 90°C, the probability of germination was higher than 70% in A. senegal and 50% in A. seyal. Although germination in both species was impacted by the different heat shocks, non-germinated seeds were viable.Research highlights: This paper showed, according to these results, that heat shock would negatively influence the regeneration of both species, and especially for A. seyal.Key words: germination, Acacia, heat shock, logistic model.

Información de financiación

Aim of the study: Understanding post-fire germination of tree species in arid and semi-arid zones of sub-Saharan Africa. Area of study: Ethiopian Acacia senegal L. and Acacia seyal Del. forests. Material and methods: Seeds were subjected to heat shocks at combinations of four temperatures (60º, 90º, 120º and 150ºC) and three exposure times (1, 5 and 10 minutes). A control was also included, resulting in a total of thirteen treatments. After the application of the heat shocks, the viability of no germinated seeds was assessed after immersion in a Tetrazolium solution. A mixed and a logistic model were used to analyse the influence of heat shock on germination. Main results: Results showed that germination depended on the species, the heat shock treatment and their interaction. Both species showed similar germination results at temperatures below 90ºC in all exposure times, however, germination in Acacia senegal was statistically higher in most of the heat shocks. On the other hand, germination probability decreased in both species, when the exposure time increased, although with a different behaviour. In 1 minute of time of exposure, the germination probability was higher than 60% in the two species throughout the temperature range. However, at 5 minutes of time and temperature smaller than 90°C, the probability of germination was higher than 70% in A. senegal and 50% in A. seyal. Although germination in both species was impacted by the different heat shocks, non-germinated seeds were viable. Research highlights: This paper showed, according to these results, that heat shock would negatively influence the regeneration of both species, and especially for A. seyal. Additional keywords: germination, Acacia, heat shock, logistic model. Authors´ contributions: Amelework Kassa carried out the methods section. Celia Herrero summarized the results. Both wrote the manuscript. Then Kassa and Herrero have contributed equally to the paper. Valentín Pando performed the statistical analysis. Felipe Bravo and Ricardo Alía conceived the study and helped to draft the manuscript. Citation: Herrero, C., Kassa, A., Pando, V., Bravo, F., Alía, R. (2019). Effect of heat shock on the germination of seeds of the species Acacia senegal L. and Acacia seyal Del. from sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia). Forest Systems, Volume 28, Issue 2, e006. https:// doi.org/10.5424/fs/2019282-14227 Received: 16 Nov 18. Accepted: 08 Jul 19. Copyright © 2019 INIA. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-by 4.0) License. Funding: This work was supported by Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (MAEC-AECID [584953]) and INIA institutions for the research grant awarded to A. Kassa and by Torres Quevedo Programm, the Spanish National Programme for Recruitment and Incorporation of Human Resources Torres Quevedo programm [PTQ-12-05409]. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Correspondence should be addressed to Celia Herrero: chdeaza@ecmingenieriaambiental.com

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