seed germination indices of papaver bracteatum populationsunder different temperature treatments

Medicinal plants are sources of active and valuable secondary metabolites that have been economically beneficial for pharmacy and medicine. however, it is challenging to start large-scale and commercial cultivation of these plants because most of the arable land is mainly used to produce strategically essential crops. persian poppy (papaver bracteatum lindl.) is a perennial medicinal plant belonging to the papaveraceae family endemic to the mountainous areas in northern iran. it is known for high amounts of the valuable benzylisoquinoline alkaloid thebaine. this study investigated the effect of temperature treatments on germination characteristics of different papaver braceatum populations on germination characteristics. for this purpose, three-level of temperature on three different populations of persian poppies. the interactions of the population×temperature was significant for germination characteristics. the results of this experiment generally showed a decrease in all germination characteristics, including germination percentage, germination rate, plumule length, radical length, plumule dry weight, radical dry weight, and seed vigor index with increasing temperature level. the highest germination percentage in all three populations was recorded at 25 ° c, and the highest seed vigor index was recorded at 20 ° c. according to these results, to industrially cultivate this plant, the temperature is the most critical factor for achieving maximum yield. therefore, to maintain the balance between vegetative growth and increase in plant dry weight, it is recommended to set the temperature in the range of 20 to 25 ° c because it was observed that the highest vegetative growth was recorded at 20 ° c and the highest dry weight at 25 ° c.