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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is not only considered a weed but also an important crop cultivated for the pharmaceutical industry. Chamomile seeds are positively photoblastic and must be sown on the soil surface. However, heavy rainfall can bury the seeds, resulting in uneven germination and partial yield loss. To address both agricultural and scientific aspects, we applied various light sources with different spectra ranging from 400 to 720 nm versus darkness, as well as smoke compounds formulated in smoke water (SW), to chamomile seeds. Our results indicate that a high proportion of red light within the spectrum is crucial for seed germination and seedling establishment. Fluorescent lamps were the least effective due to their high blue light content, highlighting the need to use white or red LEDs in experiments with chamomile seeds. The smoke compounds present in SW compensated for the absence of light, increasing seed germination by 20% in the dark, and their mode of action was additive to light, suggesting that they share the same signaling pathway. The effect of SW on seeds was stimulatory regardless of the light regime, suggesting that smoke formulations may act as a priming factor for chamomile seeds.

Details

Title
Smoke Compounds Compensate for Light Irrespective of Its Spectrum in Positively Photoblastic German Chamomile Seeds, Although Red Light Is Crucial
Author
Bączek-Kwinta, Renata 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Michałek, Sławomir 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Plant Physiology, Breeding and Seed Science, University of Agriculture in Kraków, ul. Podłużna 3, 30-239 Kraków, Poland 
 Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, 13 Akademicka Street, 20-950 Lublin, Poland; [email protected] 
First page
700
Publication year
2025
Publication date
2025
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20734395
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3181345224
Copyright
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.