The Effect of Gibberellin Extracted from Eichhornia crassipes Root on the Viability and Duration of Hard Seed Germination

Abstract

The germination process is influenced by external and internal factors including the type of seed. Hard seeds require special treatment in stimulating the germination process such as scarification and stratification (for example applying exogenous hormones to seeds during the germination process). This study aimed to describe the effect of exogenous gibberellin hormone extracted from Eichhornia crassipes root on the viability and duration of germination of three different hard seeds. This study used RBD (Randomized Block Design) with two treatment factors, namely root extract concentration from Eichhornia crassipes (0 ppm, 200 ppm, 300 ppm, 400 ppm, and 500 ppm) and hard seed types (sapodilla seeds =Annona muricata, soursop seeds =Manilkara kauki, and longan seeds = Dimocarpus longan) with three replications. The observed parameters for seed viability were germination percentage and vigour index, while duration of germination parameters was germination index. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and followed by Duncan Test. The results showed that there was a significant effect of the root-extracted gibberellin concentrations and types of seeds on viability and duration of germination seeds. The optimal concentration of root-extracted from Eichhornia crassipes was 500 ppm, with the highest germination percentage, vigour index, and germination index were 80.55%, 387.33%, and 0.254%/etmal respectively. The longan seeds revealed the best viability and shortest duration of germination due to applying the exogenous gibberellin hormone extracted from Eichhornia crassipes root. The findings revealed that there was a positive synergism between exogenous and endogenous gibberellin on the effect of germination process in three different hard seeds tested.