Responses of seeds of spruce, larch and other conifers to water stress in the seed germination stage

To explore the drought resistance of spruce, larch,Chinese pine and Chinese fir,their seed germinations were conducted on filter paper saturated with different osmotic potential solutions containing Polyethylene glycol 6 000 in petri dishes placed under the conditions for tissue culture. The results showed that the seed germination susceptible to water stress was varied among the species studied.This performance indicated that the adaptability of seed germination to soil water content exhibited significant differences among these tree species.Therefore,their drought resistance very differentiated and this difference in responses to water stress during seed germination stage reflected water availability in their natural ranges.