Saroj Yadav , Bibas Chaulagai , Promise Shrestha , Ganesh Lamsal

Agriculture and Forestry University, Faculty of Agriculture, Rampur, Chitwan, 44209, Nepal
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 2   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2026.16.0007
Received: 05 Nov., 2025    Accepted: 26 Feb., 2026    Published: 30 Mar., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Yadav S., Chaulagai B., Shrestha P., and Lamsal G., 2026, Effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of cucumber (Cucumis sativus cv. Bhaktapur Local) in Syangja, Nepal, International Journal of Horticulture, 16(2): 77-87 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2026.16.0007)

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is high-value vegetable in Nepal, known for its high nutritive value, high water and fiber content. However, cucumber faces low and inconsistent germination rates and poor seedling growth. Seed priming is a viable option to address these issues. Hence, an experiment was conducted from March to July, 2024 in Syangja, Nepal to analyse the effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of cucumber under high-tech polyhouse condition. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with ten treatments i.e. T₁: Control, T₂: Hot water (45 °C for 5 minutes), T₃: GA₃ 100 ppm, T₄: GA₃ 200 ppm, T₅: KNO₃ 1%, T₆: KNO₃ 3%, T₇: Cow urine 5%, T₈: Cow urine 10%, T₉: Vermiwash 10%, and T₁₀: Vermiwash 20%, each replicated three times. The results revealed that significantly the highest germination percentage (88%), seed vigour index-I (2,643.83), seed vigour index-II (22,555.33), fresh root weight (0.51 g) and earliest days to 50% germination (6 days) were recorded from the seed primed with hot water (45 °C for 5 minutes). Significantly the earliest mean germination time (6.06 days), highest speed of germination (0.49) and highest dry shoot weight (240 mg) were recorded in KNO₃ 1%, while dry root weight was maximum in GA₃ 200 ppm (46.00 mg). Hot water significantly enhanced germination percentage and overall seed vigour; KNO₃ 1% reduced MGT and improved germination speed; GA₃ 200 ppm promoted root dry matter accumulation. In practical applications, the choice of priming method should be based on target trait, as well as cost and availability considerations.

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.); Germination; Hot water; Potassium nitrate; Seed priming