Abstract Dormancy and germination requirements were investigated in seeds of Tulipa kaufmanniana Regel (Liliaceae). The present study was conducted to study the dormancy breaking treatment in Tulip seed. An experiment was conducted with four replications and three treatments including: 3 different stratification periods (0, 5 and 7 weeks), varying concentrations of GA 3 (0, 250 and 500ppm) and 4 levels of KNO 3 (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% v/v). Germination percentage and mean germination time were significantly enhanced by treating seeds with mentioned treatments compared with the untreated control seeds. It was concluded that stratification for 7 weeks was more effective treatment on studied traits than 5 weeks. Moreover, cold stratification was a better treatment on breaking seed dormancy of waterlily seeds than GA 3 and KNO 3 treatments. Applying 500ppm concentration of GA 3 and 0.1 of KNO 3 after stratification resulted in higher germination in waterlily dormant seeds
