433 Germination Pattern of Chamaerops humilis Seed after Short-Time Storage A. Giovino, M.M. Mammano, G. Gugliuzza and S. Saia a Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura – CRA-SFM Unità di Ricerca per il Recupero e la Valorizzazione delle Specie Floricole Mediterranee Bagheria, PA Italy Keywords: dwarf fan palm, germination timing pattern, seed ageing, germination rate Abstract 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 4, 6 or 8 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 fresh seed. 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. INTRODUCTION Dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis) is the only native palm in the western Mediterranean countries and represents an economically important ornamental crop both indoor and outdoor for its reduced vegetative habit. In contrast to most other palm species, when in cultivation, dwarf fan palm can be propagated both vegetatively and from seed. However, it is usually propagated from seeds because of low radication success of the vegetative propagules (Jacquemin, 2000). Considering that seeds of other palm species easily loose their germinability after few months of storage (Meerow, 2004), growers usually sow dwarf palm soon after seed collection. However, no information is available on the behaviour of dwarf fan palm seed after storage. Aim of the present work was to study the germination behaviour of dwarf fan palm seeds after short-time storage. MATERIALS AND METHODS Dates of dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis) were collected at full ripening from a single tree growing in a public garden, “Villa Cattolica” (Bagheria, PA, Italy). Dates were hand-picked to eliminate the damaged ones. Flesh was removed with the aid of a knife and sandpaper to avoid any scarification of the seeds. Seeds were divided in 4 batches of 100 seeds each. One batch (fresh seed) was immediately divided in ten replicates of ten seeds each. Each replicate was sown in sand in a polystyrene box (60×40 cm wide and 25 cm deep) with holes to ensure drainage. The boxes were placed upon temperature-controlled bench (constantly kept at 25±1°C) in a conditioned glasshouse with 90% relative humidity (RH) and 16±1°C air temperature. The other three seed batches were saved in controlled conditions (16°C temperature; 35% RH) for either four (4 M aged), six (6 M aged), or eight (8 M aged) months after date collection and then were sown at the same condition as for fresh seed. a sergio.saia@entecra.it Proc. II International Symposium on Horticulture in Europe Eds.: J.-C. Mauget and S. Godet Acta Hortic. 1099, ISHS 2015