Effects of GA3 Pregerminative Treatment on Gentiana lutea L. var. aurantiaca Germination and Seedlings Morphology

Gentiana lutea L. is widely used in bitter beverages and in medicine; Gentianae Radix is the pharmaceutical name of the root of G. lutea. These uses have generated a high demand. The wild populations of Gentiana lutea var. aurantiaca (M. Laínz) M. Laínz have been decimated; it is necessary to establish guidelines for its cultivation. Gentian as most alpine species has dormant seeds. Dormancy can be removed by cold and by means of a gibberellic acid (GA3) treatment. However, cold treatments produce low germination percentages and GA3 treatments may produce off-type seedlings. So, the objective was to determine, for the first time, the presowing treatments that allow high germination rate and good seedling morphology. The best pregerminative doses of GA3 to break seed dormancy were 100, 500, and 1000 ppm, while the best doses to optimize the seedling habit were 50 and 100 ppm. This study provides, for the first time, a 100 ppm GA3 dose that led to a high germination rate and good seedling morphology, as the starting point for gentian regular cultivation.