Effect of pretreatments on seed germination rate of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) populations

Mut, Hanife/0000-0002-5814-5275 WOS: 000298782800020 The aim of the present study was to investigate effective methods in breaking the seed dormancy for red clover populations collected from Central-Black Sea Region of Turkey. To increase germination percentage of red clover, precooling, preheating, hot water, potassium nitrate and mechanical scarification were used. The results pointed out that there was a significant difference among the populations and treatments regarding germination rates. While average germination vigor of seeds was 29.4% in control treatments, it increased to 54.2% in mechanical scarification. Additionally preheating and precooling treatments were recommended.