Viable seed sometimes fails to germinate under favourable conditions. The study assessed the germination of Picralima nitida (Stapf) seeds following pretreatments. Fruits were collected from Benin, Southern Nigeria (lat. 6 0 23 1 N and long. 5 0 13 1 E). The seeds were extracted manually and processed for sowing. Seeds were pretreated using ten pretreatment methods: control; soaking in water at 90 0 C and allowing to cool overnight; soaking in water at room temperature; seeds which coats were manually removed; soaking in concentrated sulphuric acid (H2SO4) for 1min; 2mins; and 5mins; and soaking in primarily recycled H2SO4 for 2mins, 5mins and 10mins. One hundred seeds were assigned to each treatment and replicated in two locations of Akungba (lat. 7 0 28 1 N and long. 5 0 46 1 E) and Ibadan (lat. 7 0 24 1 N and long. 3 0 49 1 E). Seeds were sown in germination trays containing washed-sterilized river sand in the screen house. Germination counts were taken daily. P. nitida exhibited "durian-epigeal" germination, seeds which coats were manually removed were the first batch to germinate 17 and 22 days after sowing (DAS) in Ibadan and Akungba respectively. The highest germination percentage of 100 in Ibadan and 84 in Akungba were obtained among this batch. Seeds soaked in water at room temperature gave 86% germination in Akungba and 63% in Ibadan. Seeds soaked in water at 90 0 C, and primarily recycled H2SO4 acid for 10mins did not germinate for 106days. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences at P≤0.05 in treatment and location effects. Mean germination percentage of seeds which coats were removed was significantly different from other treatments. The inherent dormancy in P. nitida seed can be treated by manually removing the seed coat before sowing.
This study was conducted over a two-year period (two seasons) to assess the potentials of mini tuber production, through vine cutting propagation on four local varieties of yam (Agbagba, Danisa, Shangari and Alata). Three propagation media used were sandy loamy soil, sandy loamy soil with carbonized rice husk (1:7) and sandy loamy soil with carbonized sawdust (1:7). The set up was a 4 by 3 factorial experiment laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates consisting of 288 excised vines with 24 vines per variety per treatment per replicate. The data obtained (percentage survival of vines, number of rooted vines, vines with shoots, numbers of roots/vine, vines with tubers, and number of tubers/vine and fresh weight of tuber/vine) were subjected to statistical analysis and their means compared. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed high significant differences (P ≤ 0.01) in percentage survival, number of rooted vines, number of roots/vine, vines with shoots, vines with tubers, number of tubers and fresh weight of tubers among treatments, varieties, and treatment by varieties in the two seasons of the study. Percentage survival of vines and number of vines with tubers/pot were generally higher in all Dioscorea rotundata (agbagba, danisa and shangari) than in Dioscorea alata in both seasons while rooting of vines and fresh weight of tubers/vine were better in Dioscorea alata. Also, sandy loamy soil proved to be the best medium of propagation followed by sandy loamy soil with carbonized rice husk while sandy loamy soil with carbonized saw dust was the least.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.