Germination Pattern of Chamaerops humilis Seed after Short-Time Storage

Dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis) plays an important ecological role in the thermo Mediterranean vegetation stage, both in woodlands, xerophitic shrub communities and degraded ecosystems. Dwarf fan palm is typically propagated from seeds. Whereas other palm species show reduced germination after few months of seed storage, no information is available on the effects of storage time on seed germinability . We examined the germination pattern of dwarf palm seeds aged after a storage of four, six or eight months in comparison to fresh seed (control). A covariance analysis was performed to test the effect of time within seed-storage treatment. The germination patterns were significantly fitted by a S-shaped (sigmoidal) distribution function with the general equation y=β+α/(1+exp(-(x-μ)/s)). Short-time storage significantly increased both final seed germination and maximum germination rate, and reduced mean germination time in comparison to unstored control. If considering that we did not make any seed treatment before sowing, these results may be due to an increased oxygen diffusion and water permeability through the seed hard coat during time.