Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) as a biomass potential crop has several distinct advantages such as vigorous growth on poor land and high yield of carbohydrate. In this crop, seed dormancy has hampered the efforts of seed-propagration and to use them in breeding programs for improving jerusalem artichoke. Several seed treatments were tested to determine their effectiveness in overcoming the seed dormancy found in five collected varietes of jerusalem artichoke. The first results showed that the seed fertilities of five collected varieties ranged from 2.4％ to 14.7％ and the number of seed produced by one plant ranged from 88 to 1058. Germinability of seeds stored for 3 months at room temperature after harvest was almost 0％ and it was not improved by addition to the treatments of temperature, light and GA3, while germinability of seeds stored for 27 months at room temperature after harvest increased to 47.5％ in germination rate. But the removal and pin-pricking of seedcoat were very effective in breaking the seed dormancy, giving germination of 96.8％ and 82.3％, respectively. These results showed that the seed dormancy of jerusalem artichoke was induced by the seedcoat. Besides the treatment of seedcoat removal and seedcoat-pinpricking, the treatment of low and wet stratification was also effective in breaking the seed dormancy of jerusalem artichoke. Whole dormant seeds incubated for 70 days in low and wet condition germinated over 85％.