Impacts of Selected Seed Pretreatments on Emergence and Early Growth of Ceiba Pentandra (L.) Gaertn (Published)
The research work on seed pretreatment methods was carried-out to examine the effects on the emergence and early growth of Ceiba pentandra (Linn) Gaertn. The research was carried out at Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) nursery Jericho, Ibadan. Major pretreatments employed on the seeds of Ceiba pentandra were soaking in water at room temperature, soaking in water at boiling point, soaking in H2SO4, and soaking in organic manure (rabbit dung) with untreated seeds as control. Each of the treatments has three levels of administration except control with a single level. The research was laid in a completely randomized design with 20 seeds per treatment and each level of treatment was replicated five times. Growth parameters assessed were germination count, seedling height, seedling girth and number of leaves with germination percentage derived from germination count. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS package. From the table presentation of germination parameters and percentage derivative, Treatment 1 (soaking in water at room temperature for 12 hours) has the highest germination percentage of 100% followed by Treatment 7 (soaking in H2SO4 for 10 minutes) 70% and Treatment 13 (control) 70%. ANOVA stated that there was significant difference among the seedling height, seedling girth and number of leaves at 5% level of probability. In overall assessment, Treatment 10 (soaking in rabbit manure for 12h) has the highest mean value of height, 15.67 followed by Treatment 8 (Soaking in H2SO4 for 20 minute) with mean value of 15.45 In the area of number of leaves, Treatment 10 has the highest mean value of 18.67 followed by Treatment 2 with 18.02 while Treatment 7 (soaking in acid for 10 minutes) has the highest mean value of 2.77 in stem diameter followed by Treatment 10 with 2.68 mean value. It was concluded based on the result obtained from the research work that Treatment 10 (Soaking in Rabbit Manure for 12 hours) was highly and positively significant in treating seeds of C. pentandra majorly in the areas of seedling height and number of leaves that form the essential parameters of plant growth and development. It is therefore recommended that further research should be carried on other fresh organic manures with various plant species.
Keywords: Impact, Organic Manure, Pretreatment, kapok, room temperature