The effect of nickel on seed germination and plant sprouting in the case of some Alyssum species

The aim of the researches was to establish the upper limit of nickel concentration in soils that the Alyssum maritimum and Alyssum murale species could tolerate without significantly affecting the germination and the plant sprouting process. The experiment was conducted in 4 variants of 3 repetitions, each repetition including 50 seeds. The watering process of the substrate was performed using distilled water for the control variant (M) and NiSO4 solutions that represented the intervention threshold (V1 – 150 mg/kg) and doses that exceeded the intervention threshold (V2 – 350 mg/kg; V3 – 550 mg/kg and V4 – 750 mg/kg). The Ni influence on seed germination was assessed based on sprouting percentage, sprouting rate and sprouting velocity. In the case of Alyssum maritimum species as compared to the control variant, the germination percentage of the nickel contaminated variants showed significant negative differences for the variant V3 (53%) and V4 (46%). In the case of the Alyssum murale species, the obtained results for the nickel contaminated variants registered highly significant decreases as compared to the control variant for the variant V4 (56%). In Alyssum maritimum the highest percentages of germination rate were obtained in variants V3 – 8.83% and V4 – 5.75%. The percentage of velocity in this species ranged from 11.80% in variant V1 and 2.96% in variant V4. In Alyssum murale the highest percentages of germination rate were obtained in variants V3 – 5.22% and V4 – 3.80%. The percentage of velocity in this species ranged from 7.48% in variant V1 and 1.48% in variant V4.