Germination Enhancement through Pre-sowing Seed Treatments of Bauhinia malabarica Roxb.

Abstract

The current trial intended to enhance the seed germination of Bauhinia malabarica Roxb. by overcome the physical dormancy barrier. The investigation was undertaken in the College of Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University (NAU), Navsari, Gujarat, India, during the years of April, 2022 and April, 2023. The present trial was conducted by employing completely randomised design (CRD) with six treatments and four repetitions. The pre-sowing seed treatments includes T1: Control; T2: Soaking in hot water; T3: Soaking in H2SO4 for 30 min+ 24 hr normal water; T4: Soaking in H2SO4 for 60 min+ 24 hr normal water; T5: Soaking in H2SO4 for 90 min+ 24 hr normal water; T6: Soaking in cow dung slurry for 24 hr were employed. The treated seeds of different treatments were sown into trays filled with the germination media consisting of Soil + Sand + FYM (2:1:1) and watered regularly. Germination traits observations were taken starting from the day after sowing and continued up to 30 days on daily basis during the period of April, 2022 and April, 2023. Among various pre-sowing seed treatments, soaking seeds in H2SO4 for 30 min followed by soaking for 24 hrs in normal water (T2) was found to be maximum seed germination percentage (88.88 %), mean daily germination (2.96), peak value (11.31), germination value (33.45) and took minimum mean germination time (8.78). Moreover, treatments T3 and T4 showed significant trend and they were non- significant with treatment T2 for germination parameters. Therefore, based on the results, treatment T2 was found to be the best pre-sowing seed treatment for B. malabarica for higher seed germination in nursery.