Aeration Quality of Root Trainer and Rooting Media in the Artificial Regeneration Studies of Myristica malabarica Lam.

Abstract

Tropics are known for the species richness and the evergreen rain forests are blessed with many tree species, which are of economic importance. Myristica malabarica is an important evergreen tree species, which urgently require artificial regeneration technology for plantation trials. Hence this work has great importance. The present study was carried out using seeds from two forest localities (L1 and L2) and sown in four sowing media (SM1-SM4) and control (SM5) in root trainers and reusable poly-pots. Germination trials using fresh and stored seeds with and without seed treatments were also performed. Higher germination percentage of 44% was exhibited by seeds collected from L1 and sown in perlite and soil in root trainer (SM3). Least germination percentage of 12.75 % was found in seeds collected from L2 and sown in garden soil in nursery bed (SM5). Higher germination value (GV) of 0.515 was recorded in seeds collected from L1 and sown in perlite and soil (SM3) and least value of 0.024 in seeds collected from L2 and sown in garden soil (SM3). Seeds soaked in water (T3) and sown in perlite and soil (SM3) and nutmeg pericarp and soil (SM4) showed higher germination percentage of 84.5 % and 83.5 % respectively while seeds without pretreatment (T1) and sown in vermiculite and soil (SM2) exhibited 21.75 % of germination in root trainer. Germination percentage was higher in seeds sown in perlite and soil in root trainer. Seeds sown in vermiculite and soil in pots recorded greater MGT of 40.57 days and least in seeds sown in perlite and soil in root trainer. Germination rate and CVt was higher in all sowing medium in root trainer compared to that in pots. Greater germination value of 3.085 were recorded in seeds sown in perlite and soil in root trainer and least values in seeds sown in vermiculite and soil in pots. Thus the results directly proves the ability of root trainers in environmentally safe artificial generation of seedlings for plantation purpose.