Mechanisms of dormancy in seeds of peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) cv. GF305

Two mechanisms of dormancy were found in peach cultivar GF305, which is fre quently used for indexing fruit viruses. Seed coat dormancy manifested itse lf in inhibition of germination, and embryo dormancy was expressed in reduc ed growth of germinated plants. The seed coat dormancy was overcome by remo val of the seed coat or by stratification for 2 weeks at 7 degreesC followe d by removal of the endocarp, Embryo dormancy was overcome by stratificatio n periods around 12 weeks. No effect of the seed coat on embryo dormancy wa s observed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.