I semi di olivello spinoso sono veramente dormienti?

Are seeds of Sea buckthorn really dormant? Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is a very important species for environmental restoring and to contrast soil erosion, due to the development of its root system. According to literature, seeds of the species should be dormant, that is unable to germinate even under optimal conditions. Dormancy can be overcome by either acid treatments or cold stratification. A research was carried on at University of Turin, in order to establish the best treatments for a quick and unifrom germination of Sea buckthorn seeds. Surprisingly, untreated seeds belonging to two different lots germinated very well. Very short treatments with solphoric acid (no longer than 2 minutes) exerted a positive effect only reducing mean germination time, while stratification always reduced germination percentage. On the basis of our results, it seems that Sea Buckthorn seeds show a very limtied amount of dormancy and that treatments before sowing are not convenient.