Seed Priming and Media for Enhanced Seedling Growth in Pansy (Viola tricolor)

Abstract

The alarming increase of temperature in Northern areas of India makes it difficult to grow seeds due to these temperature fluctuations. Since Punjab is the hub of annual flower seed production it becomes imperative to identify suitable seed primming and growing media for proper growth and germination of seedlings of annual flower crops. Hence this investigation was conducted in PAU, Ludhiana to evaluate different pre sowing seed treatment and growing media in pansy seeds for better growth and development of seedlings. The maximum shoot length (5.75cm), root length (5.38 cm), number of leaves per plant (8.00), fresh weight (14.04g), dry weight (1.42 g) and SPAD index (34.43) was recorded through synergistic effect of GA3 @ 25 ppm + soil: cocopeat: vermicompost (1:1:1) in pansy. Therefore, it was concluded from the study that treatment combination of GA3 @ 25 ppm + soil: cocopeat: vermicompost (1:1:1) was found to be the best for almost all parameters as compared to the other treatments.