Imbibition temperatures affect bitterbrush seed dormancy and seedling vigor

Bitterbrush first-year seedling survival is low. To determine whether imbibition temperatures affected seedling vigor, I compared post-imbibition seed weight, germination, and early growth among untreated, thiourea-treated, and cool-moist-treated seeds from three collections. Seedling axial lengths from untreated seeds averaged 28 mm among all imbibition temperatures. This compared to 31 mm from thiourea-treated seeds, 68 mm from seed held at 5°C for 14 days, and 118 mm from seeds held at 2°C for 28 days. There was no imbibition temperature for untreated or thiourea-treated seeds that compensated for the lack of a cool-moist treatment. Seed treatments or seedbed conditions which fully remove dormancy and reduce dormant-seed respiration appear likely to increase seedling survival during the first growing season.