A new method for early prediction of Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) germination percentage

Abstract This study was carried out to find a method to determine the seed germination ability (percentage) in the Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) quickly and with high reliability. For this purpose, 82 seed lots of Turkish red pine were used, collected from different seed stands and orchards in different years. Since none of the seeds were folded, the germination ability was evaluated in a period between the 7th to 28th days. The seeds were divided into 4 groups (20–39.9%, 40–59.9%, 60–79.9%, 80–100%). Germination Percentage Index (GPI) are expressed with the mid-value of the related interval (e.g. GPI_30: germination ability between 20–39.9%). Four different germination percentage intervals describing the germination percentage was fitted with 11 different regression models. The best fit of these models was determined by 7 fitness measures. As a result, the current germination percentage increment reached the highest values on the 13th, 13th, 14th, and 13th day for the indexes of 90, 70, 50, and 30, respectively. Within this study, it has been revealed that germination percentages in Turkish red pine seed lots can be predicted 7 to 10 days in advance.