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Depulping of Fruits and Soaking the Seeds Enhances the Seed Germination and Initial Growth Performance of Terminalia Belerica Roxb. Seedlings

Md. Aktar Hossain
Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia and Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University, Chittagong -4331, Bangladesh.

Mohammad Salah Uddin
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University, Chittagong -4331, Bangladesh.

Wahhida Shumi
Department of Microbiology, Chittagong University, Chittagong -4331, Bangladesh and Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Nor Aini Ab Shukor
Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia..

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The study describes the effects of depulping the fruits and soaking the seeds of Terminalia belerica Roxb. on seed germination and seedling growth in nursery condition. Due to the hard seed coat with thick pericarp having high content of phenolic compounds, T. belerica seeds germinate irregularly taking longer time for nursery establishment. Pre-sowing treatments are therefore essential to soften and break down the seed coat and fleshy pericarp for making the conditions for the embryo coming out. Around half of the freshly collected fruits of T. belerica were depulped by rotting the fleshy pulp in water. Depulped seeds or intact fruits were dried in sun following storage in airtight container. Effects pre-sowing treatments were explored by soaking the dry intact fruits or depulped seeds in cold water for 0, 24, 48 and 72 h and sowed in poly bags filled with soil mixed with decomposed cow dung. The study revealed that depulping of fruits and soaking the seeds significantly enhanced the seed germination and seedling growth performance in nursery condition. The fastest seed germination was observed in depulped seeds soaked in cold water for 72 h (DT3) and slowest germination was in intact fruits without treatment (IT0). The highest germination percentage (93) was observed in depulped seeds soaked in cold water for 48 h (DT2) followed by 85.6% in depulped seeds soaked in water for 24 h (DT1), which was significantly higher than the other treatments including the control (36.7). Although growth parameters such as shoot length, root length, total height, leaf number, leaf area and collar diameter of the seedlings were maximum in the seedlings developed through DT3, the vigor index was maximum in DT2 and minimum in IT0. Total dry mass per seedling was also maximum in the seedlings developed from the treatment DT3. Considered the imbibition period, germination percentage, growth performance including vigor index and total bio- mass produced per seedling, depulping the fruits and soaking the dry seeds in cold water for 48 h was recommended for obtaining maximum seed germination and seedling growth performance.

Keywords: T. belerica, Pre-sowing treatment, Depulping, Germination capacity, Growth performance

Location: Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University and Seed Orchard Division, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI),Chittagong.

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Seed Technology

Commodity: Bohera

Objectives:

To determine ways for avoiding the laborious process of depulping dry fruits of T. belerica species
To explore possibility of enhanced seed germination and seedling growth performance of T. belerica under different pre-sowing treatments.

Methodology:

The study was conducted in the nursery of Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University, Bangladesh. Ripe fruits of T. belerica were collected in January from the pre-selected trees of the Seed Orchard Division of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) situated in Chittagong. Uniform fruits were sorted out and used for the treatments to avoid the non-treatment variations since germination percentage and seedling vigor was reported to be influenced by the seed size. The intact fruits or depulped seeds were soaked in cold water for four different periods of time, 0, 24, 48 and 72 h. Therefore the pre-sowing treatments applied to the T. belerica seeds were intact fruits without any pre-sowing treatment considered as control (IT0), intact fruits soaked in cold water for 24 h (IT1), 48 h (IT2), and 72 h (IT3), depulped seeds without any other treatments (DT0), depulped seeds soaked in cold water for 24 h (DT1), 48 h (DT2) and 72 h (DT3). The treated fruits or seeds were sown in the poly bags (12.5 cm × 15.25 cm in size) filled with soil forest mixed with decomposed cow-dung at a ratio of 3:1. The soil was moderately coarse to fine textured sandy loams with pH 4.5. Before filling with the prepared soil mixture, few holes were made in the poly bag by punching to facilitate aeration and proper drainage. Randomized complete block design was adopted for the study with three replications (50 seeds per replication) for each treatment. Thus each treatment consisted of 150 seeds and a total of 1200 seeds were subjected to 8 different pre-sowing treatments. The effects of pre-sowing treatments on germination of seeds and seedling growth were explored periodically through counting germinated seeds and assessing initial growth performance of seedlings. Cumulative germination was recorded in every third day from the day of sowing and continued till ending of the germination (72 days after sowing the seeds). Mean daily germination was determined by dividing the cumulative number of seeds germinated with respective number of days. Germination phase like imbibition period was determined by counting the number of days required for the commencement of germination from the day of sowing and germination period was the number of days required for completion of germination from sowing the seeds. For assessing the growth performance, all seedlings were measured for total length, number of leaf and collar diameter. Ten seedlings from each replication treatment (30 from each treatment) were randomly uprooted and measured for total length (root length, shoot length), number of leaf, leaf area and collar diameter. The seedlings were then separated into root, shoot and leaf components and dried in electric oven at 70°C for 48 h. Dry weight of root, shoot and leaves were also recorded to assess the growth performance of the seedlings. All of the recorded data related to seed germination and seedling growth performance were analyzed statistically by using computer software IBM SPSS ver.21.0. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT) was performed to explore th e possible treatment variations.

Source of Information: American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2014, 5, 714 -725

Article Link (Online Journal): http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ajps.2014.55086

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

In the present study, among the treatments applied for T. belerica, depulped seeds soaking in cold water for 48 h was found more effective in respect to maximum germination. Although, initial growth performance and maximum dry mass were observed in the treatment DT3 due to the faster germination and plants growth, the vigor index was found highest in the treatment DT2 which was consistent with the maximum seed germination of the species in the treatment. Therefore, depulping and soaking in cold water for 48 h might be one of the efficient pre-sowing treatments for T. belerica for obtaining maximum seed germination and seedling growth performance in the nursery for large scale plantation programs.

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