Improvement of seed germination of Magnolia grandiflora L.

Valeria Ivanova, Lilyana Nacheva, Dimitria Genova

Abstract: The distribution of genus Magnolia is limited due to difficulties in breeding and production of propagating material. The aim of present investigation is to increase the germination of Magnolia grandiflora L. seeds. The seeds were collected in September 2017, from a 15-year-old tree in Plovdiv region. After 2 months they were divided into 2 groups - half of them remained dry at room temperature and the other half was disinfected following the standard procedure for the Laboratory of “Plant Biotechnology”. The disinfected seeds were divided into 2 subgroups in sterile glass jars with sterile wet perlite in variants at temperatures of 4 °C and 22 °C in the dark for 70 days. Gibberellic acid (GA3), Biolan and Agrostimulin were tested for germination stimulation. It was found that stratification at low positive temperature is a sine qua non for seed germination of studied magnolia. The results showed that treatment of seeds of Magnolia grandiflora L. with growth regulators does not increase seed germination under the specific conditions, but affects the further development of seedlings. Seeds stored at room temperature did not germinate under the conditions of the study, regardless of treatment with growth regulators. Plants obtained from 0.02% Biolan-treated seeds had higher fresh leaf weight and larger leaf area than the other variants. Treatment of the seeds after stratification with 0.005% Agrostimulin had positive influence on the development of the root system.

Keywords: growth regulators; Magnolia grandiflora L.; propagation; seeds

Date published: 2019-10-30