Modeling germination and seedling elongation of common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album)

Abstract

The ability to predict time of weed seedling emergence relative to the crop is an important component of a mechanistic model describing weed and crop competition. In this paper, we hypothesized that the process of germination could be described by the interaction of temperature and water potential and that the rate of seedling shoot and radicle elongation vary as a function of temperature. To test these hypotheses, incubator studies were conducted using seeds and seedlings of common lambsquarters. Probit analysis was used to account for variation in cardinal temperatures and base water potentials and to develop parameters for a new mathematical model that describes seed germination and shoot and radicle elongation in terms of hydrothermal time and temperature, respectively. This hydrothermal time model describes the phenology of seed germination using a single curve, generated from the relationship of temperature and water potential.