Influence of Shade and Bed Types on Attaining Optimum Temperature for The Germination of Peach (Prunus Persica L. Batsch) Seeds at Holetta, Central Ethiopia

Poor germination of peach seeds is the major limiting factor for rootstock production under the Holetta condition because of the seed dormancy problem. Stratification plays an important role in shortening the dormancy and increasing the germination of peach seeds. The study aimed to find easy stratification techniques for the germination of peach seeds using shade and different bed types. The experiment was carried out at the Holetta Agricultural Research Center in two successive years of 2017 and 2018. We got seeds used for this study from peach trees, which were well adapted for the Holetta area. It was arranged in a completely randomized design with five treatments of under tree shade on a flatbed, under tree shade in sunken bed, out of tree shade on a flatbed, out of tree shade in sunken bed and refrigerator as a standard check. They put all treatments except the refrigerator under the grass shade constructed 1 m3 wide. The treatments replicated four times, and each replication contained 200 seeds. The results showed that temperature is the most important factor affecting the germination percentage of the peach seeds. Seeds sown under the temperature close to 8 0C which is in the refrigerator found to have better germination percentage (47.1%) followed by the seeds sown in the grass shade under the tree shade both on sunken (35.8%) and flatbeds (34.9%). Peach seeds stratified in the refrigerator had good germination percentage whereas survival of the seedling was better at out of tree shade in sunken bed and out of tree shade on the flatbed. Even though the germination percentage was lower and the germination speed index was higher than the refrigerator. Seeds stratified at a temperature of above 17 OC experienced a poor germination percentage.