Effect of pre seed treatment on seed germination and seedling growth of papaya (Carica papaya L.)

The present investigation entitled “Effect of pre seed treatment on seed germination and seedling growth of papaya (Carica papaya L.)” was conducted at University Research Farm, GHRU, Saikheda in Rabi Season of 2024, are presented and described in this chapter. The research trail was carried on papaya crop cv. red lady. The application of fertilizers and manures in different form and combinations T1-Control, T2-Coconut water @ 25%,T3-Coconut water @ 50%, T4-Gibberellic Acids @ 50 ppm, T5- Gibberellic Acids @ 100 ppm, T6-Naphthalene Acetic Acid @ 50 ppm, T7-Naphthalene Acetic Acid @ 100 ppm, T8-Cow urine @ 20%, T9- Thiourea @ 100 ppm, T10- Thiourea @ 200 ppm, T11-Potassium nitrate (KNO3) @ 0.25% and T12-Potassium nitrate (KNO3) @ 0.5% was used for the experiment for observed the growth i.e. Initiation of seed germination days, height of seedling (cm), Girth of stem (mm), length of root (cm), number of secondary roots/seedling, number of leaves/seedling, fresh weight of shoot (g), the result revealed that the earliest initiation of seed germination was achieved in T5 (GA₃ @ 100 ppm), which required only 8.21 days, followed by T4 (GA₃ @ 50 ppm) and T7 (NAA @ 100 ppm). In contrast, the untreated control (T1) recorded the most delayed germination, taking 17.30 days. The T5 (GA₃ @ 100 ppm) consistently recorded the maximum seedling height (20.78 cm), stem girth (1.44 mm), root length (7.10 cm), number of leaves per seedling (8.71), and fresh shoot weight (9.10 g). These values were significantly higher than the control, which exhibited poor growth performance in all traits. Treatments T4 (GA₃ @ 50 ppm) and T7 (NAA @ 100 ppm) also demonstrated substantial improvements, though slightly lower than T5, and were statistically at par in some parameters, while the minimum value of all the treatments was observed under the treatment of Control.