Effects of presowing treatments on germination of european hackberry (Celtis australis L.) genotypes and determining theire seedling growth characteristics on different growing substrates

This study was carried out to determine the effects of presowing treatments on germination of Celtis australis genotypes native to Serik district of Antalya province and their growth characteristics on different growing substrates. The study was conducted in two main experimental stages. In the first stage, effects of seed storage (0, 15 and 30 days) with or wihtout fleshy fruit tissues on germination of C. australis genotypes was determined as the first experiment. In the second experiment of the first stage, effects of stratification time (for 0, 60 and 90 days) and germination media (paper towel, peat) in petri dishes were tested. During the germination experiments, germination rate, germination energy, germination index, mean germination time, length of stem and root and dry weights of stem and root measured and counted. No germinations were recorded in C. australis seeds stored (for 0, 15 and 30 days) with or without fleshy fruit tissues at room temperature. Results from stratification treatments indicated that all seeds from C. australis genotypes had physiological dormancy and increase stratification time increased germination rates in all genotypes used the experiment. Also there were significant differences between genotypes related to the scarification time and media. The highest germination rate (% 74,7) was recorded for GT5 genotype scarified for 90 days at +4 ° C and germinated in peat. In the second stage of study growth characteristics of C. australis seedlings from 5 genotypes on four different growing substrates consisted of loamy soil+ well fermented manure+ sand (2:1:1 by volume), perlite+ peat (2:1 by volume), peat+ sand (2:1 by volume) and spend mushroom compost+ sand (2:1 by volume) under a resitricted fertigation program. In this experiment, plant height, stem diameter, leaf number, the number of secondary branches, dry weights of root and stem, and nutrient contents of leaves were determined. The best results for growth characteristics of Celtis australis seedlings were recorded on mixture of spent mushroom compost+sand (2:1 by volume) and loamy soil+well fermented manure+sand (2:1:1 by volume) and there was significant differences between genotypes in terms of plant growth characteristics invested in the study.