Organics to Enhance Emergence and Growth of Oil Bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla Benth) Seedlings

Abstract

Insufficient seedlings supply caused by poor seed germination is one of the major problems in the propagation of tropical fruit tree crops. Pre-sowing seed treatment has been known to improve germination and seedling production under different environmental stressed conditions. Fortunately, organics plays an important role in regulation of many physiological and genetic processes. This study evaluated the effectiveness of pre- planting seed treatment in organics namely: banana sap, cassava effluent and fermented palm sap, soaked for 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours to enhance seed germination and growth of oil bean (Pentaclethra macrophylla) seedling. The experimental design was a 3 x 5 factorial in completely randomized design with 6 replicates carried out in the screen house of the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri. Days to emergence, plant height and number of leaves were highly significant with the organic treatments. Generally, seed pre-treatment in organics improved the emergence, and growth of oil bean seedlings. Seeds soaked in banana sap recorded the highest percentage total emergence of 87.50 while six hours of soaking in cassava effluent significantly reduced the mean number of days to emergence to approximately 17 day.