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Extreme Ionic and Temperature Effects on Germination of Weeping Alkaligrass (Puccinellia distans), Nuttall's Alkaligrass (Puccinellia nuttalliana) and Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Catherine S. Tarasoff ,
Daniel A. Ball  and
Carol A. Mallory-Smith
Catherine S. Tarasoff*
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-3002
Daniel A. Ball
Affiliation:
Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center, Oregon State University, Pendleton, OR 97801
Carol A. Mallory-Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-3002
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The introduced species weeping alkaligrass, and the native species Nuttall's alkaligrass, two of the most salt-tolerant C3 grasses found in arid and semiarid environments of western North America, occur within the Grande Ronde valley of eastern Oregon. Both species occur as weeds within Kentucky bluegrass seed fields and subsequently as grass seed contaminants. Two separate germination experiments were conducted to understand better the seed germination biology of these two species compared to Kentucky bluegrass under negative water potentials or high temperature conditions. Results of these studies indicate that although all three species benefited from an ionic enhancement associated with NaCl, weeping alkaligrass was the most drought and salt tolerant of the three species. Dry seeds of weeping alkaligrass were also particularly tolerant to high temperatures with no differences in germination at temperatures below 50 C, indicating that seed viability under nonirrigated field conditions should be unaffected by high soil temperatures. Under soil temperature conditions as high as 40 C, moist Kentucky bluegrass seeds had the greatest germination rates, indicating that this species should benefit from irrigation more than the other two species.

Keywords

Nuttall's alkaligrass, Puccinellia nuttallianaweeping alkaligrass, Puccinellia distansKentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis LGerminationhalophyteswater potential
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , August 2007 , pp. 305 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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