Influence of Organic Seed Treatment and Growing Media on Seedling Growth and Vigour of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady

Abstract

The present study evaluated the influence of organic seed treatments and bio-enriched growing media on seedling growth and vigour of papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady. The experiment was conducted at the Fruit Research Station, Imalia, Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, JNKVV, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during October to March 2024–2025. Sixteen treatment combinations were tested using four seed soaking treatments, namely water, coconut water, beejamrit and cow dung slurry, and four growing media combinations based on soil, sand and vermicompost, with or without microbial enrichment. The experiment was laid out with three replications, and seedling growth and vigour parameters were recorded up to 150 days after sowing. Coconut water produced better seedling performance than the other seed soaking treatments, while soil + sand + vermicompost enriched with Azospirillum produced superior growth and vigour among the growing media. The interaction treatment S2M3, comprising coconut water seed soaking and soil + sand + vermicompost + Azospirillum, recorded the highest plant height at 120 and 150 DAS (15.95 and 20.64 cm), stem girth (5.01 and 7.08 mm), number of leaves (9.88 and 11.55), fresh and dry root weight (7.52 and 1.83 g), fresh and dry shoot weight (11.44 and 2.55 g), seedling vigour index I (3773.6), seedling vigour index II (409.2) and survival percentage (86.89%). These findings indicate that coconut water seed soaking combined with an Azospirillum-enriched growing medium improved nursery-stage growth and vigour under the conditions of this study.