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Effect of pre-soaking and pre-chilling treatments on seed germination of Pinus roxburghii provenances from western Himalaya, India

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Abstract

After subjecting the seeds to GA3, and H2O2 treatments for 24 h and chilling at 2–3°C for a period of 15 days, we conducted the seed germination tests for 21 different seed sources of Pinus roxburghii from western-central Himalaya under laboratory conditions at various temperatures viz., 20°C, 25°C and 30°C inside a seed germinator. The results reveal that the soaking of seeds in H2O2 (1% v/v) and GA3 (10 mg·L−1) solutions manifested 82.39% and 78.19% germination, respectively whereas untreated seeds exhibited 70.79% average germination. Both GA3 and H2O2 treatments caused an appreciable shortening of the germination period by 8 days and 10 days, respectively. Moist-chilling did improve the rate and percentage of germination when germinated at 20°C over 21 days; however total germination was not affected at temperatures 25°C and 30°C. Although the seeds of P. roxburghii germinate well due to lack of dormancy, the increasing demand for large quantities of seeds of P. roxburghii for reforestation programmes make pre-sowing treatments useful in improving the rate and percentage of germination.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, 246 174, Uttarakhand, India

    Sunil Kumar Ghildiyal & Chandra Mohan Sharma

  2. Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Aizawl, 796001, Mizoram, India

    Vinod Prasad Khanduri

Authors
  1. Sunil Kumar Ghildiyal
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  2. Chandra Mohan Sharma
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  3. Vinod Prasad Khanduri
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Correspondence to Vinod Prasad Khanduri.

Additional information

Foundation project: This work was suportted by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Dehradun

Biography: S. K. Ghildiyal (1972–). Male, Ph.D. in Forestry, Research Associate, Department of Botany, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal- 246 174 (Uttarakhand) India.

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Ghildiyal, S.K., Sharma, C.M. & Khanduri, V.P. Effect of pre-soaking and pre-chilling treatments on seed germination of Pinus roxburghii provenances from western Himalaya, India. Journal of Forestry Research 20, 323–330 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-009-0055-6

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