Effect of pre-sowing seed treatment on germination behavior of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cv Bhagwa

Abstract

The present study was carried out in nursery under 60% shade net house at National Research Centre for Agroforestry, Jhansi during March to July, 2012 to see the effect of pre-sowing treatments of water, KNO₃ (0.5 and 1.0%) and soaking period (6, 12, 18 and 24 hours) on seed germination of pomegranate cv. Bhagwa. The experiment comprised of thirteen treatments including control, four replications with twenty five seeds of each replication under complete randomized block design. The findings revealed that germination started on 9th day after sowing and lasted for 30 days. Maximum germination percent (86%), fastest germination rate (13.45 days), maximum mean daily germination (3.58), highest peak value (4.65), more germination value (16.83) and higher shoot vigor index (441.46, 1263.60 and 3012.38 at 30, 60 and 90 days, respectively) recorded in treatment T₂ (soaking with water for 6 hours) ranking first in most of the cases or at par with the treatment where it was not having first rank.