Influence of different storage conditions on quality aspects of harvested seed material from an Arrhenatherion meadow

摘要

No guidelines are available for quality criteria and storage conditions of harvested seed material coming from semi-natural grassland. The aim of this work was to find some methods which are practicable and recommendable to assess such quality aspects. The seed material from an Arrhenatherion meadow was harvested via on-site threshing in 2009. After the determination of purity and thousand seed weight, the germination capacity was tested in a greenhouse. The harvested seed material was stored under different conditions up to three years and tested once a year. A specific volume of seed material was sown on organic growing media. The results showed that storage under different conditions and the length of storage influenced the germination capacity significantly. Storage under cool and dry conditions revealed better results. There is a strong positive relationship (correlation) between the proportion of mature seed and germination percentage.