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The Role of Nurse Plants in Facilitating the Germination of Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) Seeds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Zdenka Martinkova ,
Alois Honek  and
Stano Pekár
Zdenka Martinkova
Affiliation:
Department of Herbology, Crop Research Institute, Drnovská 507, CZ-16106 Prague 6, Ruzyne, Czech Republic
Alois Honek*
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Crop Research Institute, Drnovská 507, CZ-16106 Prague 6, Ruzyne, Czech Republic
Stano Pekár
Affiliation:
Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ-61137 Brno, Czech Republic
*
Corresponding author′s E-mail: honek@vurv.cz
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Abstract

At germination, seedlings may be encouraged by the surrounding vegetation. This facilitation was studied in dandelions in a manipulative experiment to determine whether a nurse plant, either maple trees or alfalfa, assisted in the germination of dandelion seeds and whether there was a difference in germination when additional moisture (irrigation) was provided on top of rainfall. Seeds were sown into 33-cm2 “arenas” and surrounded by plastic collars, which prevented the seed from being eaten by predators. Germination was recorded at 1- to 2-d intervals, and the percentage of the seeds that germinated and their time to 50% germination (T50) was calculated. The nurse plant was consistently associated with seed germination. Compared with bare ground, the germination percentage was lower under tree cover, whereas T50 was shorter under the cover of herbaceous plants (alfalfa). The values for the germination percentage and T50 were similar under tree and herb nurse plants when the soil was irrigated. Nurse plants facilitated germination via their effects on understory humidity. Facilitating the germination of dandelions through the presence of nurse plants contributes to their propagation in crops.

Keywords

Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale G.H. Weber ex Wiggers TAROFalfalfa Medicago sativa L.Norway maple, Acer platanoides L.Germination percentagegermination speedplant life formmicroclimatehumidity
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 474 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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