Influence of Exogenous Gibberellic Acid and Different Growth Media on Germination and Seedling Growth Performance of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady

Abstract

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is an important tropical fruit crop valued for its nutritional and economic significance. However, poor and uneven seed germination along with high seedling mortality in nursery conditions remain major challenges in papaya cultivation, particularly in the ‘Red Lady’ cultivar. Plant growth regulators such as gibberellic acid (GA₃) and suitable growing media may improve germination and seedling establishment. A field experiment entitled “Influence of Gibberellic Acid and Different Growing Media on Germination and Seedling Performance of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady” was carried out at the Department of Horticulture in Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda, Punjab between July and September 2025. It was laid out in F-CRD method (Factorial Completely Randomized Design) along with 16 treatments and 3 replications composed of 480 plantlets. The purpose pertaining to this research is to improve germination and seedling success rate of papaya through evaluating different combinations of GA3 (Gibberellic acid) along with nursery-based growing medium under environmentally friendly shade net conditions. The study consists of four different concentrations of GA3: T0 (Soaking in water), T1 (50 ppm), T2 (100 ppm) and T3 (200 ppm). Furthermore, a total of four different types of growing medium were used: M1 [Soil +Sand (1:1)], M2 [Soil + Vermicompost (1:1)], M3 [Vermicompost + Cocopeat (1:1)] and M4 [Soil + Vermicompost + Cocopeat (1:1:1)] and how they interacted were assessed. The result indicates that T3M2 (200ppm + Soil + Vermicompost [1:1]) treatment combination performed the best overall among the root attributes, growth characteristics, seedling vigor along with maintenance.