seeds for 45 min resulted in 100% germination (Mackay
et al., 1996). The concentrated sulfuric acid treatment
has been widely used to improve seed germination of
several hard seed coat species (Tigabu and Oden, 2001).
Weed control is an integral part of effiient crop
production that is assisted by new methods of dormancy
release (Gu et al., 2004). Dormancy levels differ between
individual seeds within a population. Changing weed
seed dormancy levels is probably the most important
process that determines weed emergence patterns under
fild situations. Predicting weed seed dormancy and
consequently, timing and extent of weed emergence, is
important in order to improve weed control strategies
(Radosevich et al., 1996).
Dormancy can distribute seed germination in the soil
over the years, so weeds continue to emerge in the fild
even after years of thorough weed management practices.
Weeds are diffiult to eliminate in a fild because seed
banks provide an enormous seed collection with different
dormancy levels. Thus, seed dormancy is a major cause of
continuing weed problems, but no information is available
about breaking seed dormancy of R. capitata worldwide.
The present study was therefore conducted with the
hypothesis of whether R. capitata seeds could be released
from dormancy with different seed treatment methods.
The objective of this research was to determine the effect
of different methods and identify the best method to break
seed dormancy and promote germination of R. capitata seed.