Enhancing seed germination of king chilli (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) using pre-treatment solutions

Abstract

King chilli (C. chinense Jacq.) is an important spice crops in north eastern region of India which have numerous uses in culinary preparations as well as medicinal purpose. Presence of high amount of capsaicin compound which have good impacts on human health where it’s likely to have potent effect against cancers, preclude from gastric ulcer as well as activate the immune system. However, seed borne disease like Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) as well as low germination process of king chilli seeds are the most common problems faced by farmers. PCR detection of CMV and Seed priming is expected to overcome this problem by stimulate imbibition of seed using pre-treatment solution. In this study effect of two pre-treatment solutions; Gibberellic acid (GA3) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), were used along with water (H2O) as a control, were evaluated on germination process. Experimental works were carried out through imbibition of king chilli seeds in the different concentrations of pre-treatment solution and imbibition period (one hour and 24 hours). Germination percentage and growing performance of chilli seeds were assessed after ten days of sowing. The germination percentage of king chilli seed were identified based on percentage of successfully germinated king chilli seeds while the growing performances were assessed through the average length of root, stem and leaf. From the experiment revealed that the most appropriate pre-treatment solution for king chilli seeds is 6% of GA3 with one hour imbibition period with highest germination percentage (97%), and average length of root, stem and leaf of 3.5±0.1 cm, 2.6±0.1 cm and 1.7±0.2 cm, respectively and followed by 3% of H2O2 (80% germination) and H2O (65% germination), respectively.