1. Senior Scientific Officer, Research Wing Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur-1701, Bangladesh
2. Professor, Department of Horticulture Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University Salna, Gazipur-1706, Bangladesh
Author
Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2013, Vol. 3, No. 10 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2013.03.0010
Received: 13 Mar., 2013 Accepted: 15 Mar., 2013 Published: 20 Mar., 2013
Eryngium (Eryngium foetidum L.) is a tropical annual horticultural herb grown as condiments in Bangladesh also gaining world wide popularity due to excellent aromatic and medicinal value. It is mainly cultivated for its leaves as condiments and for its essential oils (Ignacimuthu et al., 2006). The essential oil from the leaves of Eryngium is rich in aliphatic aldehyds, most of which are α, ß unsaturated that have remarkable demand in industrial as well as consumer’s level (Leclerqetal., 1992). Eryngium is rich in calcium, iron, carotene, and riboflavin. Leaves are an excellent source of vitamin A, B2, B1, and C (Bautista et al., 1988). The aerial parts are rich in calcium iron and riboflavin with approximately 0.1%~0.95% essential oil and a peculiar saponir (Anam, 2002). Increasing demand and high value attracts the farmers to cultivate this crop but they are facing some constraints. Asynchronized and un-uniform seed germinations as well as very low germination rate (6%~10%) are the major problems for popularizing Eryngium culti- vation throughout the country (Mozumder et al., 2010). In addition to this, unavailability of adequate amounts of seeds also limits it’s cultivation. On the other hand, all these criteria influence higher seed rate (40 kg/ha) of Eryngium which negatively affects the cost of cultivation (Moniruzzaman et al., 2002). To overcome such problems the germination rate should be increased. The use of GA3 and kinetin for enhancing germination of coriander seed is well documented (Moraes et al., 1998; Naidu, 2001). Combined application of GA3 (1 000 ppm) and Kinetin (50 ppm) proved effective for enhancing Eryngium seed germination up to 28.54% (Mozumder, 2009). Increased germination may be reduced seed rate which directly influences the cost of production. Moreover, more area can be cultivated with a limited amount of seed. But previously developed technology is not sufficient to increased seed germination near 100% inhibiting the negative effect of germination by a chemical ‘Coumarin’ presents in Eryngium seeds (Ekpong and Sukprakran, 2008). Researches are required for complete removal of ‘Coumarin’ and increased germination percentage as well as identifying proper storage condition. An emphasis should be given to increase germination with application of growth regulators (GA3 and Kinetin) with alternately seed soaking and drying lowering the coumarin level, increased α-amylase activities in seeds and to decrease seed rate that increase farmer’s profitability decreasing the produ- ction cost in Eryngium cultivation. Therefore, the experiment was conducted to standardize the seed treatment and priming for increasing germination rate.
1 Results and Discussion
1.1 Germination performance in the laboratory
Seed treatment with growth regulator and chemicals (Tetracycline plus copper oxy-chloride) showed significant variation in respect to germination duration and weekly germination as well as total germination rate (Table 1; Figure 1).
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Table 1 Effect of seed treatment on germination of Eryngium seeds
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Figure 1 Weekly germination rate of Bangladhonia with different seed treatment
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1.2 Effect of seed treatment
Early germination (15.1 days) observed in growth regulator treatment while significant delayed germination found in pesticide treatment (18.2 days) and control (17.2 days). Pesticide had no significant effect over control in respect to days to germination and germination percentage. During first three weeks PGR treated seeds gave the highest germination (31.9%) which was distinctly lower in control (9.0%) and pesticide treatment (7.1%). Similar trend was observed in second three weeks but no significant different was observed in third three weeks germination. The total germination percentage was highest (58.4%) in growth regulator treatment (GA3 500 ppm and Kinetin 50 ppm). Significantly lower germination observed in control (23.2%) and pesticide treated seeds (17.6%). The lowest germination from pesticide treated seeds seems that pesticide treatment had an adverse effect on germination in petridish. Applied pesticide might hamper seed germination reducing a-Amylase activities during germination.
Figure 1 showed the weekly germination with diff- erent seed treatment. The major portions of seeds were germinated in third and fourth weeks then declined gradually and almost stopped after eighth week. Khider (1999) reported that application of growth regulator significantly increased germination of seeds. Samaan et al (2000; 2000a) obtained higher germination rate in apricot seeds using Kinetin and GA3, respectively.
1.3 Effect of seed soaking
Consecutive soaking and drying of Eryngium seeds gave increased germination percentage and enhanced germination (Table 2; Figure 2). Seeds germinated earlier (13.9 DAS) when soaked for longer period (96 h) while it took longer time (19.8 DAS) in un-soaked seeds. In first 3 weeks, significantly higher germination (29.3%) was recorded in long time soaked seeds then gradually decreased and was much lower in un-soaked control (4.2%). A moderate germination (12%~19.5%) was observed in second three weeks. The reverse scenario was observed in third 3 weeks germination. Un-soaked control had the highest germination (2.9%) in 3rd three (7~9) weeks and it was declined with increasing soaking duration and it was lowest in 96 hours soaking (0.1%). The declination of germination percent in 3rd three weeks with soaking because most of the viable seeds were germinated earlier but un-soaked seeds germinated slowly. Bewly and Black (1986) found higher seed germination with seed treatment and priming controlling dormancy.
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Table 2 Effect of soaking duration on germination of Eryngium seeds
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Figure 2 Effect of soaking duration on weekly germination (%) of Eryngium seed
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The cumulative germination was also higher in 96 hours soaking. Consecutive soaking 8 hours and drying 4 hours of seeds for 96 hours gave the early germination (13.9 days) and higher germination rate (46.0%) closely followed by 72 soaking (43.6%). The lowest germination obtained from the un-soaked (control) treatment (20%). The weekly germination clarified that the maximum Eryngium seeds germinated within 3~5 weeks but continued till 8th week in petridis (Figure 2). When seeds were soaked for 2 or more days the germination started earlier that three weeks. Un-soaked seeds took longer time for germination. The highest weekly germination (26.3%) was obtained in 3rd week from 96 hours soaked seeds.
The higher germination in long time soaked seeds are due to maximum removal of germination inhibitor coumarin and proper water uptake which is essential for seed germination.This result support the report of Ekpong and Sukprakran (2008) that soaking of Eryngium seeds increase germination.
1.4 Combined effect of soaking duration and chemical treatment
The combined effect of soaking and chemical treatment was significant in respect to weekly germination rate as well as total germination (Table 3). The maximum germination percentage (74.7%) and early germination (12 days) were obtained from the growth regulator treatment (GA3 500 ppm and Kinetin 50 ppm) with 96 hours soaking (8 hours soaking and 4 hours drying for 6 times) closely followed by 72 hours soaking with same treatment. This result partially differed with the report of Ekpong and Sukprakran (2008) who obtained the maximum germination at 72 hours soaking. Dutt et al (2000) and Riley (1987) found increased seedgermination with GA3 treatment and soaking. The lowest seed germination rate (9%) were obtained from the pesticide treated seeds with no soaking which was wonderfully lower than absolute control. This might be the cause of an adverse effect of pesticide in seed germination in Eryngium. Control (no soaking) with or without pesticide treatment showed the delayed (20.7 days) germination in Petridis.
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Table 3 Combined effect of seed treatment and soaking on weekly germination of Eryngium seeds
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Seed treatment with growth regulator (GA3 500 ppm and Kinetin 50 ppm) with 72 to 96 hours soaking (8 hours soaking and 4 hours drying for 6~8 times) are found better for enhancement and increasing seed germination in Eryngium foetidum.
2 Methodology
The experiment was conducted at Seed Horticulture Field Laboratory of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur during July 2010 to June 2011. The experiments comprised with two different factors such as growth regulator treatment and soaking duration.
Germination test were conducted in normal room temperature with eighteen treatment combinations of two factors. Factor A comprised of three seed treatment viz. growth regulator (GA3 500 ppm+Kinetin 50 ppm), pesticide (copper oxi-chloride 0.2%+tetracycline 1000 ppm) and control (distilled water) and Factor B comprised of six soaking levels viz. 0, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96 h soaking having 8 hours consecutive soaking and 4 h drying was used in the experiments. All the chemicals according to the treatment were prepared in the laboratory and used after application of soaking treatment. The 18 treatment combinations consisting Factor A (Seed treatment) and B (Soaking) are shown in Table 4.
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Table 4 The 18 treatment combinations consisting Factor A (Seed treatment) and B (Soaking)
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100 seeds were placed onto 3 layers of blotting paper in each Petridish that treated as unit treatment and replicated three times. Placed seeds were covered with a single layer of white facial tissue paper for keeping it stable on the blotting paper. Judicial watering was continued to keep the blotting paper moist till 10 weeks after placing.
Data on days to germination, number of seedlings per petridish were properly counted daily as well as weekly basis and recorded. All the data were compiled properly, calculated and analyzed statistically by MS Excel, MSTAT-C Program and mean separation was done following the Duncan's Multiple Range Test (Zaman et al., 1987).
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