Effect of environmental factors on Camelina sativa seed germination and emergence

Camelina sativa (L.) is known as an important oilseed crop due to its application for biofuels, bio-products, and healthy food uses. However, it has a small seed (~ 0.7 × 1.5 mm), which can be a serious problem for plant establishment in some environments. Despite this, there is not enough information about this plant in response to edaphic (i.e., soil pH and burial depth) and abiotic environmental (i.e., temperature, water potential, salinity and light) factors. Our findings showed that all studied germination and emergence characteristics were affected by each of the environmental factors mentioned above. The cardinal temperatures were 1.50, 20.3 and 34.7 °C for the base, optimum and ceiling temperatures, respectively. The tolerance threshold values for salt and water potential stresses were 232 mM and − 1.29 MPa for seed germination, and 202 mM and − 0.75 MPa for the seedling emergence, respectively. There was no significant difference between the seeds germinated in the light and dark regimes. The maximum germination and seedling emergence were recorded at a pH range of 7–8 and a sowing depth of 0.5 cm. The results obtained in the present study could help camelina producers to effectively manage the production of this oilseed crop under stressful conditions. The models fitted here could be applied in simulating camelina growth.