Comparative Effect of Seed Priming and Growing Media on Germination and Seedling Rootstocks of Mango (Mangifera indica)

Abstract

The poor seedling rootstock is a key factor in mango yield reduction. Container-based study was conducted to evaluate the effect of seed priming and growing media on seedling rootstocks of mango. Hydropriming of seed was performed by using distilled water, while gibberellic acid (GA3) and NPK fertilizer (Solo plant) were used for hormonal and nutripriming, respectively. In second part, the primed and unprimed seeds were planted in four different growing media (GM) including GM1, GM2, GM3 and GM4. Data showed that seed germination (%), germination index (GI), seedling vigor index (SVI), height of seedling, stem diameter, chlorophyll content, electrolyte leakage of leaf, nutrient (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) contents in leaf tissue was significantly altered by both seed priming and growing media respectively. In case of priming treatments, hormonal primed seeds had the best seed germination (77.01%), stem diameter (9.65 mm) and electrolyte leakage of leaf (13.01%); while N (1.13%), P (0.14%), K (0.87%), Ca (2.40%) and Mg (0.34%) content of leaf tissue was observed maximum in nutripriming treatment. Whereas, seed germination (71.96%), germination index (11.15) and stem diameter (9.41 mm) had greater values in response to the GM2 treatment. While GM4 grown seedlings had higher seeding height (33.81 cm), N (1.17%), P (0.15%), K (0.98%), Ca (2.64%) and Mg (0.38%) content of leaf tissue. It is concluded that seed germination and seedling growth attributes had a greater influence of GA3, while mineral nutrient contents of leaf had a significant effect on nutripriming. Among growing media, GM2 was observed better for growth parameters while GM4 for mineral nutrient contents of leaf..