Effects of pre-sowing seed treatments on germination of Chironji (Buchanania lanzan Spreng) under Chhattisgarh plain condition

Abstract

The present experiment entitled “Effect of different pre-sowing seed treatments on germination and seedling growth of Chironji (Buchanania lanzan Spreng) under Chhattisgarh plain” was conducted at the experimental farm, under Pt. K. L. Shukla College of Horticulture and Research Station, Rajnandgaon (C.G.) during the year 2022-23. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 14 treatments and 3 replications. The treatment includes, Mechanical rupturing by hammer, Scarification by rubbing sand paper, Cold water soaking for (24 hours and 48 hours), Hot water soaking for 30 minutes (50 °c), Soaking in cow urine for 24 hours, Soaking in fresh cow dung slurry for 24 hours, Scarification by H2SO4 (2.5% and 5%), Dipping in KNO3 (1.5% and 2.5%) and Dipping in GA3 (100 ppm and 200 ppm). The result of the investigation revealed that, the minimum number of days required for seed germination (9.29 days), number of days required for 50 percent germination (14.59 days), maximum germination percentage (83.47%) were recorded in the treatment T7 soaking in cow urine for 24 hours. Regarding seedling growth parameters such as vigour indexe - I (1328.87) cm, vigour indexe - II (246.95 g) survival percentage (78.50%) and and germination Index (0.45) were also maximum for the T14 Dipping in GA3 (200 ppm). Among all the treatments seeds treated with GA3 200 ppm recorded maximum in germination index, vigour index - I, vigour index- II and survival percentage. Hence pre-sowing seed treatment with GA3 200 ppm for 24 hours may be recommended for early germination and production of healthy seedling of Chironji.