Canadian Forest Service Publications
Accelerated aging of Sitka spruce seeds. 1993. Chaisurisri, K.; Edwards, D.G.W.; El-Kassaby, Y.A. Silvae Genetica 42: 303-308.
Year: 1993
Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 3363
Language: English
Availability: Not available through the CFS (click for more information).
Abstract
An accelerated aging test was conducted on seed orchard-produced Sitka spruce seeds from 6 clones. Seeds were aged at 100% RH and 37.5* C for 0 to 21 days at 3-day intervals and a paired (stratified and unstratified) germination test was conducted. Germination parameters (germination capacity, germination value, and peak value) increased in seeds acceleratedly-aged for 3 to 6 days (the conditioned stage), then declined (the deteriorated stage) thereafter. Seed moisture content and average germination capacity were negatively and highly-significantly correlated, for both stratified and unstratified seeds. Significant clonal differences were observed for the germination parameters, indicating the degree of deterioration is clone-specific. The impact of these differences on the genetic diversity of stored, bulked seedlots is discussed.