Effect of Pre-sowing Treatments on Seed Germination Behavior of Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham ex Smith

Abstract

Propagation through seeds is considered useful for maintaining of genetic diversity. Seed germination behavior of a threatened species, Hedychium spicatum in relation to different plant growth regulators (PGRs) was studied under mist chamber conditions. Duration of pre-sowing of seeds in different concentrations of different PGRs was observed to have important role in improving seed germination and help in reducing mean germination time. Among various treatments, incubation of seeds in indole-acetic acid (100 µg ml−1) for 24 h showed highest germination of 95.83 ± 3.6 % with mean germination time of 84.00 ± 7.0 days. On the contrary non-treated seeds exhibited only 37.50–60.42 % germination. Imbibition by the seeds was fast in first 2 h and then it increased gradually up to 24 h thus confirming that 24 h is sufficient to imbibe the PGRs. PGRs are also found useful in reducing time for initiation of germination, time for maximum germination, mean germination time and germination rate. The result recommends indole-acetic acid (concentration of 100 µg ml−1) with 24 h of pre-sowing incubation for better germination.