In vitro Evaluation of germination behaviour in senna (Cassia angustifolia vahl.) with thermal seed treatments Jnanesha A.C.1,*, Kumar S. Ranjith1,**, Venugopal S.1,2,***, Bharath S.2, Sathish G.2, Sravya K.3 1Crop Production and Protection Divisional Unit, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Research Centre, Boduppal, Hyderabad-500092, Telangana, India 2Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University, Mulugu Village, Siddipet-502279, Telangana, India 3Dr. Yashwat Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan-173230, Himachal Pradesh, India *Corresponding authors e-mail: jnangowda@gmail.com (A.C. Jnanesha)
**ranjithkumar@cimap.res.in (S. Ranjith Kumar)
***venugopal.sripathi@gmail.com (S. Venugopal)
Online published on 26 December, 2023. Abstract Senna, a vital medicinal crop cultivated on a commercial scale, is primarily sought for its exceptional laxative properties. Senna seeds possess a robust seed coat that significantly prolongs the germination process if sown without appropriate treatment. Germination is one of the most crucial factors determining seed quality. The germination rate can be increased through various seed treatments such as scarification and stratification. Therefore, a laboratory study was conducted three times in 2022 at the CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Centre in Hyderabad to standardize the seed soaking period in hot water for achieving a high germination percentage with a high survival rate. The experiment was set up using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with six treatment combinations. The results showed that seeds treated with hot water soaking for 5 hours and 6 hours exhibited a high germination percentage (91.63% and 86.61%), along with early germination (4.36 and 4.33), increased survival rates (82.65% and 84.95%), faster germination speed (12.17 and 11.42), and a higher vigor index (5.92 and 4.89) compared to the control group (T6), which received normal water treatment for 24 hours. The current investigation demonstrated that thermal water soaking of Senna seeds yielded better seed germination characteristics than seeds soaked in normal water. The use of hot water soaking allows for a reduction in soaking time and an improvement in the quality of germination. Top Keywords Senna seed, Germination, Thermal water, Speed of germination, Vigour index. Top |