Abstract
Walla patta (Gyrinops walla Gaertn.) belongs to family Thymelaeaceae, is a valuable endemic plant in Sri Lanka. Recently, this species has become a topic of wide interest due to its ability to produce highly valuable agarwood resin. Commercial cultivation of the species is yet to start, thus natural habitats are tremendously under pressure due to illegal harvest. The seeds of G. walla are recalcitrant and loose the viability within a shorter period of time. Due to the limited availability of information, the present study was aimed at evaluating the effect of plant growth regulators on seed germination. The experiment was conducted in a protected plant house at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna from September 2019 to January 2020. A completely randomized design (CRD) was used with three replicates. The influence of gibberellic acid (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and indol-3-butyric acid (IBA) at 800 ppm, 1000 ppm, and 1200 ppm concentrations on seed germination of the G. walla were investigated. Seeds soaked in nine different hormone solutions for 24 hours were placed in disinfected sand media and germinations were recorded daily up to 60 days. Seeds treated with water served as the control. Final germination percentage, mean germination time, mean daily germination, germination rate index and average time taken to start the germination were recorded. Hormone treatments except IBA at 1000 ppm, significantly increased (p<0.05) the seed germination, when compared with the control. GA3 at 1200 ppm showed the highest (65%) germination followed by IAA at 1000 ppm (53.33%) and 800 ppm (50%). GA3 treatments showed a significantly (p<0.05) faster germination rate than IAA and IBA. Based on the results, GA3 at 1200 ppm can be recommended to enhance the seed germination of G. walla.
Highlights
Walla patta (Gyrinops walla), belongs to family Thymelaeaceae is a valuable plant endemic to Sri Lanka
Gyrinops genera has eight species including G. walla, which is the only species naturally found in Sri Lanka (Alwis et al 2016)
The agarwood resin produced in G. walla is chemically similar to that of produced by Aquilaria species (Subasinghe et al 2012; Mohamed and Lee 2016), the species gained high recognition among traders and consumers
Summary
Walla patta (Gyrinops walla), belongs to family Thymelaeaceae is a valuable plant endemic to Sri Lanka. It is known as “Sri Lankan Agar”. Dark colour resin agarwood (Subasinghe and Hettiarachchi 2015) is found to form in the heartwood of certain genera (Aquilaria, Gyrinops, Aetoxylon, and Gonystylus) of the Thymelaeaceae family as a self-defence mechanism (Alwis et al 2019) in response to biotic and abiotic stresses (Singh and Sharma 2015). The agarwood resin produced in G. walla is chemically similar to that of produced by Aquilaria species (Subasinghe et al 2012; Mohamed and Lee 2016), the species gained high recognition among traders and consumers. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of gibberellic acid (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and indol-3-butyric acid (IBA) on seed germination of G. walla
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
