Exploring the Potentials of Some Pre-Treatments on Seed Germination of Monodora myrstica

Abstract

Investigation on seed dormancy and germination of  Monodora myrstica was carried out. Five pre-treatment  methods which included the use of chemical, mechanical  scarification, vernalization, wet heat and coconut water were  examined. The treated and untreated seeds were sown in  Petri-dishes and were moistened with distil water. The  untreated seeds served as the control. The percentage seed  germination (GP) and coefficient of velocity (CoV) of the  germinating seedlings from the treated seeds were compared  to those of the control. All the pre-treatments used in this  study resulted in better GP and CoV. This tends to suggest  that M. myristica exhibits seed dormancy that the treatments  must have broken. Germinations in seeds pre-treated with  sulphuric acid were directly proportional to the concentrations of the acid. In the mechanical scarified seeds,  treatment with sandpaper had the highest germination. The  vernalization pre-treatments revealed that the longer the  duration of treatment of the seeds the better their  germination. Also in the wet heat pre-treatments, seeds  immersed for longer time resulted in better germination.  Similarly, germinations in the coconut water pre-treated  seeds were directly proportional to the duration of  treatments. In all the pre-treatments used in this study, seeds  treated with 80% concentration of H2SO4 had the highest GP  and CoV values. In conclusion, pre-treatment of seeds of M.  myristica will be advantageous in the efforts to domesticate  the species. The use of wet heat method provides a  promising method of pre-treating the seeds of this species in  the study area.