GERMINATION OF Ephedra ochreata Miers: CONTRIBUTION FOR PRODUCTIVE RESTORATION OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS IN ARGENTINA.

Abstract

Ephedra ochreata Miers is a shrub native to arid areas of Argentina that is useful for rural communities because its edible cones provide food and livestock forage. Besides it is able to inhabit areas affected by severe desertification. Given these two features, it is considered a potentially useful species for productive restoration, a type of ecological restoration that proposes the recovery of the structure and function of degraded ecosystems, while at the same time using the land for productive purposes. For this goal, it is necessary determine the simplest way to achieve high and homogeneous seed germination to optimize the production of seedlings in nursery gardens or direct seeding in the field. The hypothesis of this study was that germination treatments that are effective in other Ephedraceae will also improve germination in this species and that the provenance of the seeds will affect characteristics such as size, weight, and germination rate. The objective of this research was to compare the size and weight of the seeds from two areas of the Patagonian distribution of the species: the extreme west (Monte Neuquino: MN) and east (Coastal Dunes: CD). Then, we compared the effects of four pregerminative treatments: soaking (SO), cold-wet (CW), chemical scarification (CE) and control (C) on germination rates. The experimental design was completely randomized with three replicates of 30 seeds per treatment. The results were analyzed with ANOVA (p£0.05). The seeds from MN were larger and heavier than those of CD and had higher germination rates overall. The CW treatment accelerated the germination of MN seeds and produced 98.9 % of germination at 14 d after treatment. The seeds from CD had shorter germination time with CW and SO compared to the other treatments. These results provide relevant information for nursery production for outplantings or direct seeding of E. ochreata for use in productive restoration of arid zones of Argentina.