engleski

INVESTIGATION OF CONDITIONS FOR PROCESSING AND STORAGE OF PEDUNCULATE OAK ACORNS (Quercus robur L.) AND ACORN QUALITY DURING STORAGE

The largest forest complex of pedunculate oak Spačva is situated in eastern part of Croatia in the river basin of Spačva and Studva. It occupies approximately 40.000 ha that makes one fifth of all pedunculate oak forests in Croatia. The consequences of negative pressure on the forest ecosystem are visible in forest decline as the irregular and loe yield of acorns. The most important factor for conservation of genetic resources and biodiversity and ensuring the sustainability of oak forest ecosystems, is good acorn quality. Seed storage without major deterioration of germination capacity is a great problem for the larger seeded broadleaved tree species. Acorns belong to recalcitrant seed storage type and are sensitive to the loss of moisture content and the storage temperature. In this work the most favourable temperature for processing of acorns by thermotherapy treatment, moisture content in the acorn before storage and the storage temperature of different pedunculate oak provenances were investigated. The most important seed quality parameters for determination of seed processing and storage, viability and moisture content were determinate according to ISTA methodology. In the thermotherapy treatment temperature of 41°C and 43°C were used for 2.5 hours. After this process acorn were dried to 42% i 35% moisture content, and packed in PE-bags before storage at 2°C for 4 months. Moisture content was controlled once per month and the viability once in two months. During storage the moisture content in the acorn varied between 1 – 3%, depending on initial moisture content. After 2 and 4 month storage, the acorn viability for all investigated provenances was higher for acorn with 42 % of moisture content and both temperatures.

Pedunculate oak; acorn quality; thermotherapy treatment; acorn storage

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