Seed Dormancy and Germination in Medicinal Plants

Seed germination is the most crucial developmental transition in a plant’s life cycle, as it determines subsequent plant survival. Seed dormancy, on the other hand, ensures that seeds germinate only when environmental conditions are optimal. It thus is an adaptive trait in numerous seed-plant species, enabling plants to survive under stressful conditions in nature, especially for medicinal plants. During the domestication process, it is very vital to develop different techniques to overcome the dormancy and optimizing germination process. In this chapter, effects of some growth regulators including gibberellins, auxins, abscisic acid, ethylene, and also some chemicals such as nitric oxide on dormancy breaking were comprehensively reviewed. Applied methods like stratification and scarification were also discussed in detail. Due to their substantial role, involved genes and changes at transcriptional levels were also evaluated. A wide range of mentioned treatments could be used as efficient tools in the way of dormancy breaking and improvement the germination and establishment of medicinal plant’s seeds.