Effect of Time of Fruit/Seed Collection on the Seed Germination of Grewia Optiva Drumm.

Abstract

An experimental trial was conducted to study the effect of time of fruit/seed collection on the germination of Grewia optiva seeds- an important multipurpose tree species. The seeds of Grewia optiva (Beul) were collected on 15 days interval (Fortnightly basis) starting from 1st October, 2013 to 31st January, 2014 from the established open pollinated Seedling Seed Orchard during July, 2000, which is comprised of 60 families planted in three replications in randomized block design at a spacing of 2x2 meter. The seeds collected during different harvest dates were considered as treatments and were subjected to germination testing without any pre-sowing treatments to study the effect of time of collection on germination of Grewia optiva seeds. Significant differences were observed in germination percentage, moisture content of seeds in Grewia optiva collected during different collection period. The study indicated that optimum time of seed collection in Grewia optiva is found to be best between first fortnight, second fortnight of December and first fortnight of January as the seed collected during this period recorded maximum germination i.e. 86.66%, 80.00% and 80.00% whereas, seeds collected during first fortnight of October recorded minimum i.e. 20.00 percent germination. The study further indicates that optimum time of seed collection in Grewia optiva is found to be between first fortnight, second fortnight of December and first fortnight of January as the seed collected during this period recorded maximum germination percent as compared to other collection times taken in the study.