Effects of pre-treatment and sowing media on the germination of Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb. seeds

Abstract

Caesalpinia bonduc is a plant that has high medicinal properties and the seeds are used for games. Despite the importance of this species, little or no attention is given to its regeneration. Hence this study investigated the effects of pre-treatment and sowing media on the germination of C. bonduc. The seeds were subjected to different pre-treatments; T1=Topsoil + Soaking; T2=River sand + Soaking; T3= Topsoil + Nicking; T4= River sand + Nicking; T5=Topsoil + Nicking and Soaking; T6=River sand + Nicking and Soaking; T7= Topsoil and T8= River sand. The soaking period used for this study was 24 hours while file was used for nicking the seeds. Results revealed that there was significant (p<0.05) difference in the germination of the seeds of S. bonduc subjected to different treatments. Mean value result indicated that control for topsoil gave the highest germination, followed by control for river sand while topsoil + nicking + soaking and river sand + nicking + soaking gave the least germination. It was deduced from this study that freshly collected matured seeds of C. bonduc do not require any pre-treatment for germination to occur. This study also revealed that freshly collected seeds of C. bonduc do not have any dormancy problem as the seeds germinated after 9 days of sowing. Seeds of C. bonduc harvested can be planted immediately for higher germination percentage.