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Dormancy Changes and Fate of Some Annual Weed Seeds in the Soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

E. W. Stoller
Affiliation:
North Central Region, Agr. Res. Ser., U.S. Dep. of Agr. Urbana, IL 61801
L. M. Wax
Affiliation:
North Central Region, Agr. Res. Ser., U.S. Dep. of Agr. Urbana, IL 61801

Abstract

Seeds of common cocklebur (Xanthium pensylvanicum Wallr.), jimsonweed (Datura stramonium L.), ivyleaf morningglory [Ipomoea hederacea (L.) Jacq.], giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida L.), yellow foxtail [Setaria lutescens (Weigel) Hubb.], and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medic.) were buried in the soil at depths down to 15.2 cm in November 1966. Seeds of jimsonweed, ivyleaf morningglory, giant ragweed, yellow foxtail, velvetleaf, common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.), and Pennsylvania smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum L.) were buried 2.5 and 10.2 cm below the surface in October 1968. Seeds were exhumed for periodic laboratory analyses of dormancy changes. All species except ivyleaf morningglory and common cocklebur germinated better in light than in darkness after at least one winter of burial in the soil. Seeds decayed faster at 2.5 cm below the soil surface than at 10.2 cm, but some viable seeds of all species were recovered from both depths after 3 years. The development or maintenance of hard seeds was considered the principle mechanism for seed survival for 3 years in these species.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1974 by the Weed Science Society of America 

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References

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