Germination requirements for 29 terrestrial and wetland wild plant species appropriate for phytotoxicity testing

Species selected for phytotoxicity testing have been limited to a few standard crop species owing to restrictive recommendations at the regulatory level. However, guidelines by the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) were recently amended in 2006 to include a list of herbaceous non-crop plant species suitable for testing. The objective of this study was to outline the optimum germination requirements for a selection of wild species for which seeds were readily available from commercial suppliers.

Of the 29 herbaceous terrestrial and wetland species included in this study, all achieved 50% germination and 23 reached > 70% germination to meet the criterion outlined in the OECD guidelines. Most species attained their maximum germination within 14 days or less. Cold stratification of imbibed seeds improved germination for 14 species. Increasing sowing soil depth did not improve seed germination. The variance attained in this experiment between replicates was low, especially for species with > 70% germination (standard error approximately 5%).

The present study showed that 23 of the 29 species tested required minimal pretreatments and produced consistent, reliable and uniform germination reaching at least 70%. The inclusion of wild plant species in regulatory testing should be given real consideration.