Effect of Seed Priming Treatments on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.)

Abstract

By reducing seed dormancy, seed priming is an effective way to increase bitter gourd seed germination and vigor. To ascertain the impact of seed priming treatment on the physiological quality of bitter gourd seeds, an experiment was carried out in the spring. In a single factorial randomized full block design with three replications, seeds were sowed on 28 celled seed treys for this experiment in an open field setting. Water, cow milk, cow urine, NANO urea, nutrition solution, NaCl solution, and untreated seed were all used as priming agents. Bitter gourd seeds of the Durga variety were sowed, and soil, vermicompost, and sand were used as the growing media in a 2:1:1 ratio. The experiment examined various metrics, including germination rate, germination index, seedling vigor index, root and leaf length, plant height, number of leaves and roots, root-to-shoot ratio, and fresh weight. The treatments including germination % were all found to be positively influenced by the priming. In hydro-priming, the highest germination rate (81.96%) was noted. On hydro-priming, the highest number of roots (11), was recorded. Maximum shoot diameter (0.34 cm) and fresh weight (2.41 g) were recorded under controlled treatment and hydro priming, respectively. The study comes to the conclusion that Durga hydro priming followed by halo priming in seed trays was shown to be effective for seed germination and seedling growth. As a result, Nepali farmers can prime bitter gourd seeds using tap water and a NaCl solution.