The Influence of Seed Pre-Treatments on Seed Germination and Seedling Vigour in Acacia senegal in the Nurs

Abstract

Viable seeds of A. senegal were subjected to varied scarification treatments to determine their early germinability and subsequent development of vigour in the nursery. The treatments included micropylar, distal and circumference cuts, soaking in hot water at varying degrees and soaking time, H₂SO₄ and HCl treatments at varying concentrations and soaking time. The design of the experiments in the laboratory and in the nursery was completely randomized design (CRD). In the laboratory, the percentage germination of the seeds soaking in 50% concentrated H₂SO₄ and those cut at the circumference were significantly high (P<0.05) having 89.0% and 92.0% respectively with the least mean germination time (4.0) and the highest seedling vigour index (1.94). Mechanical scarification on seeds of appropriate forest trees by the circumference cut should be used for breaking seed dormancy for quick and optimum germination.

Key Words: Scarification, Germinability, Mean-germination-time, dormancy, seedling-vigour-index