Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Field studies were conducted to determine the effect of emergence timing onthe fitness of the next generation as represented by seed mass, maturation,and afterripening of common waterhemp cohorts. Five natural cohorts weredocumented both in 2009 and 2010. Different maternal environments resultingfrom varied cohort emergence timings did not influence seed maturation timeand seed mass, but had an inconsistent effect on seed afterripening. Hereare our major findings. (1) Waterhemp cohorts needed similar amounts of timeto generate viable seeds (20 to 27 d after flower initiation) and the seedsproduced were of similar size (2.0 to 2.35 g), and (2) waterhemp has strongprimary dormancy that may be released within 4 mo during the afterripeningprocess, depending on the dormancy level. Seeds produced by later cohortswere more sensitive to the afterripening period, suggesting more flexibilityin life strategy. Seeds from the 2009 cohorts had similar afterripeningpatterns; newly harvested seeds had strong primary dormancy (<10%germination), which was gradually released during dry storage and reachedthe maximum germination (>80%) rate 4 mo after harvest (MAH). However,germination then dropped to 40% 6 and 8 MAH, suggesting the induction ofsecondary seed dormancy. Strong primary dormancy at harvest for 2010 seedswas sustained in dry afterripening, perhaps because of higher dormancylevel, which was the result of less-favorable parental environments broughtby 10 to 30 times higher population densities and 2.5 to 5 times higheraccumulative precipitation than in 2009 (see Wu and Owen 2014). We alsotested the soil seed-bank seed population densities for each waterhempcohort and found that early cohorts greatly influenced the seed populationdensities at the soil surface level and the turnover rate of the soil seedbank. Results from this research will provide insights into bettermanagement of waterhemp, targeting a better understanding of the seedbank.
Current address: Department of Crop Science, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.
Associate Editor for this paper: William Vencill, University of Georgia.