Germination, Winter Survival and Plant Growth of Sophora secondiflora as Affected by Sowing Dates and Seed Scarification
Germination, Winter Survival and Plant Growth of Sophora secondiflora as Affected by Sowing Dates and Seed Scarification
Muhammad Ihtisham1, Noor Amjad2, Muhammad Nauman3, Asghar Ali3, Khawar Riaz3, Muhammad Sajid3, Muhammad Owais Shahid*3
ABSTRACT
Seeds are the most common and cheap source of propagation. However, several plant species have water-impermeable hard seeds which take a long time to germinate. The hard seed coat can be scarified successfully through acid treatment. Sophora is a beautiful ornamental plant and its seeds have the same issue. In this experiment, seeds of Sophora secondiflora were treated with H2SO4 and then sown at different dates. Both H2SO4 scarification and sowing time had a significant effect on germination and seedling growth. The seeds scarified with sulfuric acid for 135 min gave the maximum plant height (25.42 cm), leaves plant-1 (34.45), leaf area (8.00 cm2), stem thickness (0.47 cm), fresh leaves weight (3.31 g), fresh stem weight (1.95 g), root length (22.10 cm) and winter survival (94.44%). However, the same treatment also gave minimum days to germination (2.96) and seedling emergence (12.96). The seeds scarified for 90 min gave maximum plant emergence percentage (97.78%). The seeds sown on 14th April gave minimum days to germination (9.03) and seedling emergence (18.38), but also gave maximum plant emergence percentage (85.83%), plant height (22.63 cm), number of leaves (28.34), leaf area (7.13 cm2), stem diameter (0.39 cm), fresh leaves weight (2.79 g), stem fresh weight (1.55 g), length of roots (20.99 cm) and winter survival of plants (93.03%). It was concluded from the results that scarification durations of 90 and 135 min and sowing on 4th-14th April were the most effective in improving the germination, growth attributes and winter survival of Sophora.
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