Effect of pre-soaking and pre-chilling treatments on seed germination of Pinus roxburghii provenances from western Himalaya, India

Abstract

After subjecting the seeds to GA₃, and H₂O₂ treatments for 24 h and chilling at 2–3°C for a period of 15 days, we conducted the seed germination tests for 21 different seed sources of Pinus roxburghii from western-central Himalaya under laboratory conditions at various temperatures viz., 20°C, 25°C and 30°C inside a seed germinator. The results reveal that the soaking of seeds in H₂O₂ (1% v/v) and GA₃ (10 mg·L⁻¹) solutions manifested 82.39% and 78.19% germination, respectively whereas untreated seeds exhibited 70.79% average germination. Both GA₃ and H₂O₂ treatments caused an appreciable shortening of the germination period by 8 days and 10 days, respectively. Moist-chilling did improve the rate and percentage of germination when germinated at 20°C over 21 days; however total germination was not affected at temperatures 25°C and 30°C. Although the seeds of P. roxburghii germinate well due to lack of dormancy, the increasing demand for large quantities of seeds of P. roxburghii for reforestation programmes make pre-sowing treatments useful in improving the rate and percentage of germination.

Keywords

seed germination / seed sources / provenances / temperature / GA₃ / H₂O₂ / chilling / chir pine / Pinus roxburghii / Himalaya

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