Effect of Pre-Sowing Treatments on Germination and Initial Seedling Growth of Castanopsis Indica- An Endangered Tree Species in Bangladesh

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Castanopsis indica (Sil Batna) is an ecologically valuable multipurpose indigenous tree species of Bangladesh. Considering its high value but poor natural regeneration due to seed dormancy, the authors conducted an experiment at the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences Chittagong University (IFESCU) during 2012-2013 to find out effective pre-sowing treatments. Ten pre-sowing seed treatments were applied on mature, even-sized seeds namely-control; sandpaper rubbing; nail clipping; immersion in normal water (at room temperature: 24℃) for 24 hrs., 48 hrs. and 72 hrs.; immersion in hot water (80℃) for 1 minute; soaking in 10% dilute H₂SO₄; soaking in 10% HCl for 5 minutes; and sowing in propagator house. Seeds sown after sandpaper rubbing at the distal end revealed best performances by providing highest germination percent (66.7%), germination energy (30%), germination index (0.17), germination rate (0.0145), germination value (30%) and plant percent (66.7%) within shortest period (38 days). The treatment also produced most vigor seedlings with 20.9 cm shoot height, 15 node number, and largest leaves (11.1 cm×2.9 cm). Hence, it is recommended to adopt sandpaper rubbing method for maximum germination and quality seedlings.