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ECOLOGICAL STUDIES ON RAWDHAT SYSTEM IN SAUDI ARABIA - II. SOIL
SEED BANK OF RAWDHAT KHORIM
M.N. AL-YEMENI, M.M. AL-FARRAJ AND AHMED AL-FARHAN
Abstract: The germinable seeds in the seed bank in the uppermost
two centimeter layer of the soil of Rawdhat Khorim in the Riyadh region
of Central Saudi Arabia was studied using 1250 cm2 soil samples
collected in winter season from three line transects. The seed bank
composition was determined using germination experiment. Most of the
seedlings emerged in the first three weeks. The final number of seedlings
ranged from 18 to 1190/m2. The floristic composition of the
emerged seedlings consisted of 56 plant species. There was a compositional
difference in the emerged seedlings between sites having different soil
texture. Biomass of the emerged seedlings ranged from 2.14 to 51.8 g/m2
depending on the seedling density and soil texture.
Botany & Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud
University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh-11451, Saudi Arabia.
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