Effects of hydropriming on seed germination, seedling growth and yield of bitter gourd

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to find out the effects of hydropriming on seed germination, seedling growth and yield of bitter. Two single factor experiments were conduced at the laboratory and field of Seed Science and Technology Department following completely randomized design with three replications and randomized complete block design with five replications, rspectively. The experiments comprised six soaking treatments viz. T0: untreated (control), T1: tap water (around 25º ± 2º C) for overnight, T2:cold water (12ºC) for 5 min, T3: cold water (12ºC) for 10min, T4:cold water (12ºC) for 15min, T5: hot water (45ºC) for 5 min and T6: hot water (45ºC) for 10min soaking. The highest germination (88.0%) was obtained from T5 treatment and the lowest germination (30.0%) was recorded in control treatment. It was also observed that T5 treatment exehibited superior performances in respect of most of the parameters studied in the laboratory as well as in fiield experiment as compeared to control treatment. In respect of fruit yield per plant, maximum number of fruits obtained from T5 treatment (16 fruits/plant) followed by T6 (14 fruit/plant), T1 (12 fruit/plant), T2 (12.0 fruit/plant), T3 (11.2 fruit/plant) and T4 (11.2 fruit/plant) and the minimum number of fruits per plant recorded from the control treatment (7.6). From the findings of these study it can be concluded that bitter gourd seeds soaked in hot water at 45ºC for 5 min could improve seed germination, expedite seedling growth and eventually increase the yield of fruit.
 J Bangladesh Agril Univ 17(3): 281–287, 2019

Effect of seed hydro-priming durations on germination and seedling growth of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia)

“…The seedling vigor index is growing due to reduced imbibition lag time for priming treatments [ 44 ]. Similar results were reported during the study of germination and field performance of vegetables; faba bean [ 45 ], bitter gourd [ 27 ], cucumber [ 37 ], and food crops [ 30 , 46 ]. Priming often induces physiological and biochemical seed modifications during seed treatments [ 47 ] and increased amylase production enhances metabolic tasks, resulting in higher seed vigor [ 46 ].…”

“…Hydro-priming is an economic and eco-friendly technique [ 26 ] that is done by soaking seeds either in hot or in cold water for a certain period before sowing seeds in the field or any growing/nutrient media [ 27 ]. This facilitates water imbibition in seed and makes seed coat soft enough for enhanced easy and fast growth of seed embryo [ 28 ].…”

Seed Germination of Gundelia Tournefortii L. Under Different Dormancy Breaking Treatments

“…But, the highest value of mean germination time was recorded by seed soaking in boiled water for 60mintes. The results partially similar to those obtained by Farajollahi et al, (2014) concerning Calotropis persica plant, Tania et al, (2019) concerning Momordica charantia L. plant and Usman et al, (2010) concerning Acacia senegal plant.…”

Hydropriming Improves Germination and Plant Recovery During Embryo Rescue of Wild Banana Musa acuminata var. tomentosa

“…In addition, water also causes the embryonic cell wall and seed coat more permeable to gases, thus facilitates the diffusion of oxygen into the cells to increase the respiratory activity of the embryonic cells so that the process of seed germination occurs faster (Taiz & Zeiger, 1998). According to Tania et al (2019), seed priming treatment can stimulate a series of biochemical changes in the seeds to initiate important processes such as breaking dormancy and hydrolysis.…”

“…Other study reported by Shah et al (2012) said that seed priming increased early growth and seedling vigor of mung bean, characterized by an increase in seedling biomass. Bitter gourd seeds soaked in 45°C warm water for 5 min can also increase seedling growth and yields (Tania et al, 2019).…”