THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT STORAGE MEDIA AND DURATION ON SEED EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF MORINGA (Moringa oleifera LAM) IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

A study was conducted to investigate the viability of Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam) seed stored in various storage media, which include, earthen container, plastic container, tin container, gunny bag and some spread on the ground under a shade without a storage medium (control) as levels treatments in the first factor, while the second factor was duration of seed in the storage media before sowing, which include; 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks. The total of five hundred  500) seeds were sown. Every two weeks interval, twenty seeds were taken from storage medium and planted on seed beds. The seedling emergence count was collected at every fourth week after sowing. The result showed that 80 % of seeds sown emerged from seeds stored for four weeks. With exception of control, there was no significant difference on seedling emergence percentage of seeds stored for 2, 6 and 8 weeks. Plant height, number of leaves and girth of plant followed the same trends as seeds emergence count. The result of storage media revealed that earthen container was better than others in all the perimeters measured. This study has shown that Moringa seeds need to be stored for four weeks after harvest in an earthen container for better seedling emergence and growth. It is therefore, recommended that seeds of Moringa should be stored for four weeks in earthen container before sowing.