Abstract: In order to understand the germination characteristics of Eurya alata Kobuski, the seeds of wild Eurya alata Kobuski in Yanchihe Town, Danjiangkou City were used as experimental materials. The germination rate, germination energy, germination index, germination lag, germination duration, mean germination time, days needed to reach 50% of germination rate(T₅₀), germination uniformity(days from 10% to 90% of germination, T_10-90) at different gibberellin(GA₃) concentrations (100, 200, 400, 600 mg/L) and soaking times (4, 8, 16, 24 h) were measured. The membership function, principal component analysis, TOPSIS method, combined weighting method based on entropy and coefficient of variation were used to comprehensively evaluate different treatments. The results showed that GA₃ could promote the germination of Eurya alata seeds. The concentration of GA₃, soaking time and the interaction of different concentrations and times had significant effects on the germination of Eurya alata seeds. Although the evaluation results of different evaluation methods were different, the overall trend was relatively consistent. The treatment of 200 mg/L GA₃ with 16 h soaking ranked the highest across different evaluation methods, which was the best treatment combination for Eurya alata seed germination. The germination rate, germination energy and T₅₀ under this treatment achieved the highest values, and the germination index, germination lag and germination uniformity were slightly lower than the highest values. Through comprehensive comparison, the entropy weight-coefficient of variation combined weighting TOPSIS method was identified as the preferred comprehensive evaluation method for the seed germination of Eurya alata. The weight coefficient analysis of the indicators, grey correlation analysis between each index and comprehensive evaluation value both indicated that germination energy, germination index and germination rate had the most obvious influence on the germination of Eurya alata seeds, which were the key indicators for evaluating the effect of the Eurya alata seed germination.

Key words: Eurya alata Kobuski, seed germination, gibberellin, soaking seeds, comprehensive evaluation, Danjiangkou City