Breaking Secondary Dormancy in Sesbania (Sesbania sesban) Seeds

Aims: To investigate the efficacy of various dormancy breaking methods on Sesbania seeds.

Study Design: Complete Randomized Design with 5 treatments and 4 replicates of 100 seeds each for the treatments.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Seed, Crop and Horticultural Science and duration of the study was 2 months.

Methodology: Sesbania seeds were subjected to the following methods; mechanical scarification, soaking in hot water (67°C) for 15 minutes, soaking in concentrated H2SO4 for 15 seconds and leaching. A control experiment where the seeds were not subjected to any treatment was also prepared. The seeds were then set up in Petri dishes up lined with 3 moist filter papers substratum for each method. The Petri dishes were then put in a growth chamber set at a temperature of 24°C and 70% relative humidity. Seeds that germinated every day were noted.

Results: Dormancy breaking methods differed significantly from the control regarding the number of seeds that germinated at P≤0.05. Leaching method (77.8%) hot water (69.5%) Mechanical scarification (62.3%) and acid scarification (64.5%) were higher than for the control (51%).

Conclusion: Leaching was shown to be the best method to alleviate dormancy in the Sesbania seeds. Soaking in hot water, mechanical and acid scarifications also significantly increase germination.