Effect of plant growth regulators on germination of seed of Podophyllum hexandrum in high altitude region of Ladakh, India.

Abstract

This study shows an effective but simple method of conserving characterised populations through seed germination modification and treatment with plant growth regulators. It is tolerant to cold temperature, as would be expected of a Northern Himalayan plant, but not tolerant to dry conditions. Podophyllum hexandrum seed dormancy has been considered to be a major constraint and most of the earlier reports recommended dormancy breaking pre-treatments such as chilling, gibberellic acid (GA 3 ). However, in this study, we showed that the pre-treatment of seeds with IAA, IBA and GA 3 plant growth regulators at high altitude (Leh - Ladakh) to analyse the effects on germination percentage of seeds and morphological characteristics of the treated seeds over control seeds. The pre-treatment helps the seeds to give high germination percentage than control seedlings. The treated seedling showed a high degree of growth especially the seedlings treated with GA 3 . These seedlings in the greenhouse showed very prominent growth in height and leaf as compared to the control seedling plants.