Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Collection

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Browsing Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Collection by Subject "Africana seed"

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    Effect of seed desicction and storage on seed vigour and germination in four species of indigenous fruit trees
    (Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2002) Uronu, Ludovick Obed Ndenfoo
    A study was conducted for Cordyla africana Lour, C. densiflora Milne.Redh., Strychnos cocculoides Baker and 5. spinosa Lam., in the laboratory, to investigate desiccation tolerance and storage conditions that will maintain high seed vigour and germination. Three experiments were conducted: Initial, desiccation sensitivity and storage trials. For initial and desiccation trial, a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications was used. For storage trial, a 5 x 4 x 3 factorial experiment with four replications was conducted.actor one was moisture contents at five levels: C. africana (50, 38, 25, 13 and 8%); C. densiflora (54, 41, 27, 14 and 10%); S. cocculoides (43, 32, 22, 11 and 5%) and S. spinosa (41, 31, 21, 10 and 5%). Factor two was storage temperature at four levels, -20, 4, 16 and 25° C and factor three was packaging materials at three levels, polyethylene bags cotton cloth bags and aluminum foil bags. Germination test was conducted after every 2, 4, 8 and 20 weeks. Assessment were done for, daily germination percent, final germination percent, radicle elongation, germination value and germination energy percent. Seed of C. africana and C. densiflora were found to be sensitive to desiccation, seed vigour and viability were substantially reduced after desiccation from 50 to 13% and from 54 to 14% respectively. For S. cocczdoides and S. spinosa seed viability and vigour were not sensitive to desiccation. Storage conditions significantly influenced seed viability and vigour after two weeks of storage. Seeds of C. africana and C. densiflora maintained high final cumulative germination of 90 and 95% and higher radicle elongation of 19 and 42 mm respectively, for seeds stored with their initial moisture content at 16°C in cotton cloth bags. Germination value and germination energy followed the same trend. For 5. cocculoides and S. spinosa seeds were not significantly affected by storage. It is concluded that. Seeds of C. africana and C. densiflora are recalcitrant and those of 5. cocculoides and .S'. spinosa are intermediate. It is recommended that seeds of C. africana and C. densiflora should be stored with moisture content between 25 and 50% and 27 and 54% in cotton cloth bag at 16° C respectively, for period no exceeding eight weeks Seeds of 5. cocculoides and 5. spinosa can be stored for up to 20 weeks in polyethylene bags, with moisture content between 5 and 40% at temperatures of > 4°C but not exceeding 25°C. Further study should be conducted to determine rates of cell membrane disruption during desiccation.