Does the pollen parent affect the time required for germination?
The following article was published on page 15 of the October 1958 issue of "The American Rose" by Edward B. Risley, Durham, N. H. It was published there with the approval of the director of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station as cientific contribution number 223.
Knowing this would appear to be particularly important when germinating "mixed pollen" or bee pollinated hips. With these cases this article suggests that one would not want to, say, keep the first 30 sprouted seedlings and discard the rest for lack of room. It would appear to be better to germinate all, keep a record of date of germination, and select as many as feasible from each time slot.
"Male Controls Sprouting
A REVIEW of data collected in 1955 has revealed evidence
that the particular rose variety used as the pollen parent may influence the length of
time that must pass before the seeds will germinate. When the pollen has a direct effect
on the seed tissues, other than the embryo, the effect is known as xenia. The color of the
seed of the pollen parent has long been known to control the color of the kernels on an
ear of corn, and this is cited as the classic example of xenia. In other plants, xenia is
rare.
The twelve lots of seeds listed below were harvested without
drying and put in moist sphagnurn moss in polyethylene bags in a refrigerator on September
23 and 24, 1954. In all cases the female parent was Skinners Rambler. The number of days
until the first seeds germinated (the stratification period) was recorded for each cross.
Rose varieties crossed in 1954
Female x Male Number of days before germination
Skinners Rambler x Max Graf 83
Skinners Rambler x Persian Yellow 91
Skinners Rambler open pollinated 94
Skinners Rambler x Dream Girl 97
Skinners Rambler x (Brownell Pillar #84 ) 101
Skinners Rambler x Mandelay 101
Skinners Rambler x Bonfire 112
Skinners Rambler x Lady Penzance 124
Skinners Rambler x Prof. Emile Perrot 134
Skinners Rambler x Diamond Jubilee 160
Skinners Rambler x Tawny Gold 160
Skinners Rambler x Queen of the Lakes 173
The difference between longest and shortest stratification period was 90 days. The majority of the seeds in each cross germinated soon after the first ones. No other obvious variable was in operation and the difference is thought to be due to some direct effect the pollen parent had on the seed coat or on the chemical nature of dormancy in this case."