A Comparative Analysis of Early Seedling Growth in Terminalia chebula Retz. under Different Pre-sowing Treatments

Abstract

Terminalia chebula, the king of medicines, is highly regarded in Ayurveda. The growing interest in its medicinal properties increased demand for its fruit, particularly with the shift from allopathic to Ayurvedic medicines. Nevertheless, the hindrance posed by its low germination rate, attributed to factors such as a hard endocarp, poor kernel development, and seed dormancy, remains a substantial obstacle, leading to slow and inadequate seedling growth. This issue significantly hampers nursery operations and plantation development. To address these challenges, presowing treatments have proven highly effective in enhancing germination and seedling vigour of pretreated seeds. In this study, a completely randomised design with 11 treatments and 3 replications was employed. Regular observations of various growth parameters were conducted over ninety days. Results revealed that among the diverse treatments, seedlings subjected to mechanical treatment exhibited the highest values for shoot length, number of leaves per seedling, root length, seedling height, shoot and root diameter, root:shoot ratio, shoot and root biomass, total biomass, seedling vigour index, and quality index. The subsequent treatment, in terms of performance, was acid (H₂SO₄). Importantly, all pre-sowing treatments outperformed the control group in seedling growth. Mechanical treatment emerged as a cost-effective and efficient method that requires minimal time and labour to promote high-quality seedling production. These methods hold promise for producing high-quality seedlings in a relatively short timeframe, overcoming the limitations of traditional methods, which are often devoid of pre-sowing treatments and often result in germination failures.