Effect of stand age and individual growth on seed germination of Populus euphratica in the Ejina Oasis, China

作     者：LIU Qian-wen HAO Peng LI Jing-wen TAN Zhi-gang Amugulang LUO Jing-yu 

作者机构：College of Forestry Beijing Forestry University Beijing 100083 P. R. China Ejina Banner Forestry Bureau Inner Mongolia 735400 P. R. China 

出 版 物：《Forestry Studies in China》 (中国林学（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2011年第13卷第3期

页      面：183-188页

学科分类：082802[工学-农业水土工程] 08[工学] 0828[工学-农业工程] 09[农学] 0901[农学-作物学] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31070553, 30570332) the 11th Five-Year Plan of the National Scientific and Technological Support Projects of China (Grant No. 2008BAD-B0B05) 

主　　题：sexual regeneration seed vitality Populus euphratica Ejina Oasis 

摘      要：We conducted an investigation into the germination of seeds from individual Populus euphratica trees of different ages and growing conditions in order to discover the effect of intraspecific factors on their sexual reproduction in the Ejina Oasis, Inner Mongolia of China. By carrying out germination experiments of seeds collected at various seed dispersal periods, we found that P. euphratica seeds could be germinated intensively within 8 h from the start of the experiments, that the germination percentage decreased with the time of seed dispersal and that the germination percentage of seeds collected at the early stage of seed dispersal was 1.86 times greater than those collected at the final stage. There was no significant difference in the germination percentage or the germination index between seeds collected at the early and peak stages. The vitality of seeds from the mature forest was clearly higher than that of the half-mature and near-mature forests. The rate of branch dieback only affected seed germination at the final stage. Therefore, we conclude that the mature P. euphratica forest was the main contributor to reproduction. The results show that both the time of seed harvest and stand age were the main factors affecting the germination percentage of P. euphratica seeds.