Seed Dormancy and Germination Characteristics of Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua L.)

새포아풀(Poa annua sp.)의 종자휴면과 발아특성

Two types of annual bluegrass have been reported, and those consist of annual type (Poa annua ssp. annua) and perennial type (Poa annua ssp. reptans). As a weed, annual bluegrasses are commonly found in putting greens and fairways in many golf courses. Due to its strong competitiveness such as tremendous seed reproduction rate a year, prostrate growth habit, and no herbicide availability, annual bluegrasses have been considered as one of the most hard-to-control weeds in turf management systems. A growth chamber study was conducted to determine seed dormancy and to understand seed germination characteristics of annual bluegrass (Poa annua ssp. annua). Freshly harvested seeds showed 80 and 55% germination at 30 and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively, indicating that the optimum temperature of annual bluegrass is $30^{\circ}C$. However, the seed germination occurred only under light condition at any given temperature. This result demonstrated that light is prerequisite for the seed germination, and no primary dormancy of annual bluegrass seed exists. Secondary seed dormancy induced by unfavorable temperatures and dark condition was broken through 4 to 6 wk-storage at $4^{\circ}C$ with moisture, and the stored seeds germinated at $20^{\circ}C$ even under the dark. In red and far-red light trial, fresh seeds resulted in 40% germination under red while no seed germination occurred under far-red light condition, indicating that phytochrome Pr and Pfr could be related to annual bluegrass seed germination. When the far-red light replaced the red the germination was recovered, but this reversibility did not reach to the germination level under the red light only. This result implied that other lights than red and far-red would play an important role on seed germination of annual bluegrass.