1 ASSESSMENT OF SEED DORMANCY IN SCROPHULARIA STRIATA Karavani, B., Afshari, R.T., Hosseini, N.M., Oveisi, M. and Miranshahi, B. (2016), Seed Sci. & Technol., 44, 1, 1-6. http://doi.org/10.15258/sst.2016.44.1.18 Research Note Assessment of seed dormancy in Scrophularia striata B. KARAVANI 1 , R.T. AFSHARI 1 , N.M. HOSSEINI 1 , M. OVEISI 1 AND B. MIRANSHAHI 2 1 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran (E-mail: karavan.bahram@ut.ac.ir) 2 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran (Accepted December 2015) Abstract Scrophularia striata (Scrophulariace) grows naturally in the western parts of Iran. This study investigated the effects of mechanical and chemical scarification, moist chilling, soaking in gibberellic acid, after-ripening, and some combined treatments on seed germination behaviour of S. striata. Germination under standard conditions was 13%. Mechanical and chemical scarification of the seed coat improved germination. Furthermore, germination was promoted by moist chilling and chemicals, indicating ‘endogenous dormancy’. The best germination occurred in seeds soaked in 400 ppm GA 3 for 24 hours and given moist chilling at 5°C for one week. In this treatment, total germination reached 92%. Dormant seeds showed low enzyme activity, while enzyme activity in treated seeds was significantly higher. Experimental and discussion There are five species of Scrophularia (Scrophulariaceae) in Iran (Mozafarian, 1999). Scrophularia striata Boiss., growing in the western regions of Iran, has been used since ancient times in traditional medicines to treat eczema, wounds, goiter, ulcers, cancer and fistulae. Both leaves and seeds of S. striata contain anti-cancer and cell growth enhancing agents (Ardeshiry Lajimi et al., 2010). Seeds of many temperate plant species are dormant at the time of dispersal. Specific temperature requirements must be met before they can germinate (Baskin and Baskin, 1998). A dormant seed (or other germination unit) is a seed that does not have the capacity to germinate in a specified period of time under any combination of normal physical environmental factors (Baskin and Baskin, 2004). Some enzymes, such as α-amylases, play important roles in breaking seed dormancy. These enzymes initiate the mobilisation of starch in germinating seeds (Fincher, 1989). Biswas et al. (1978) reported that dormant seeds of large crabgrass had very little or no activity of α-amylase, whereas non-dormant seeds showed appreciable activity. S. striata is an important medical plant and there is no information about its seed dormancy in literature. The objectives of this study were to investigate the mechanism of seed dormancy and to improve seed germination in S. striata.