Effect of Seed Treatment on Germination and Early Seedling Growth of African Pear (Dacryodes edulis (G. Don). H.J. Lam)

This experiment was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of Imo State University, Owerri to evaluate the effect of pre-sowing seed treatment on germination and early seedling growth of African Pear (Dacryodes edulis (G. Don) H.J. Lam). The design used was Complete Randomized Design (C.R.D) with four (4) treatments and fifteen (15) replications. The four treatments were boiled H2O at 1000C (for 3 minutes), roasting in hot ash at 1000C (for 3 minutes), removal of mesocarp and an untreated (control). A total of sixty (60) African pear fruits were used, 15 fruits per treatment. They were sown after treatment in 60 polybags each containing 6 kg topsoil. Data on germination and early seedling growth parameters were collected. Seedling root length, height and leaf area were also recorded ten weeks after sowing. The analysis of data revealed that the highest germination percentage of 86.64%, significantly different (P<0.05) from all others was obtained from the seeds without mesocarp. The highest number of days to 50% germination was 17.2 days recorded from the control treatment and this differed significantly (P<0.05) from others. Removal of fruit mesocarp before planting (T4) gave both the largest mean seedling leaf area of 45.18cm2 and tallest seedlings of 14.10cm, significantly different (P<0.05) from all others at 10 weeks after planting. Planting of seeds of African pear without mesocarp was recommended.