Effects of different treatments on seed germination of Castanopsis kawakamii

The objective was to study the effects of different treatments (varied seed size, temperature, concentration of gibberellins and seed capsules) on germination percentage, germination potential, germination index and average germination rate of Castanopsis kawakamii seeds to improve its germination ability. The results showed that germination percentages of the large and medium C.kawakamii seeds were higher than that of small seeds;the favorable temperatures were 40 and 50 ℃,and extreme temperature restrained the germination; different concentrations of gibberellins promoted the germination percentage of C.kawakamii seeds,and the germination percentage was over 70% when treated with 10,20 and 50 mg/L gibberellins solution;removal of seed capsule can improve the germination percentage also.