Mustafa Demirkaya

Lavender is an important perfume, cosmetic and pharmaceutical plant worldwide because of its high quality and quantity essential oil content. Besides, it is an important ornamental plant with pleasant fragrance and beautiful vegetative pattern in bush form. In seed propagation, there are some problems such as low germination times and germination rate. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of some selected osmotic conditioners on lavender seeds. Osmotic conditioning (OC) was performed in seeds with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) (1.0 mM) and seaweed ( Ascophyllum nodosum ) extract (1:500 seaweed extract) at 20°C for 1 and 2 days. After the treatment, seeds were characterized for germination tests at 25°C. Germination indexes of the seeds, germination rates and mean germination time were determined. Seaweed treatment for 1 and 2 day applications and MeJA treatment for 2 days significantly increased the germination rates in lavender seeds compared to the control. In addition seaweed 2 day treatment and MeJA 2 day treatment also increased the germination index. In conclusion, this study indicated that both MeJA and seaweed treatments had positive effects on germination parameters studied in lavender seeds.