ABSTRACT

A study on pre-germination treatment on the germination and early seedling growth of Parkia biglobosa of the tropical rainforest using various pre-germination treatment was conducted at the Department of Forestry and Environmental Management Nursery site of the College of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. Though, there has been emphasis on the use of indigenous tree species to check land degradation but these have not yielded the desired result, due to poor natural rate of regeneration and slow growth rate of most indigenous trees. Parkia biglobosa is being endangered as a result of over-exploitation coupled with the adverse effect of increasing human activities on its habitats and lack of its stand plantations. Matured seeds of Parkia biglobosa were collected from Oban West Forest Reserve in Cross River State, Nigeria. The seeds were dried at room temperature and tested for viability by floatation method. The seeds were subjected to four (4) different pre-germination treatments, namely: soaked in water at 80◦C for two minutes (Treatment one), soaked in water at 60◦C for two minutes (Treatment two), soaked in water at 40◦C for two minutes (treatment tree), soaked in water at 20◦C for two minutes (Treatment four) and soaked in water at 7◦C for two minutes which served as the control. From the experiment, dormancy was effectively broken by soaked in water at 80◦C for two minutes which improved the germination to 95%. Soaked in water at 60◦C for two minutes had 65% germination, treatment with water at 40◦C for two minutes had 45% germination while treatment with water at 20◦C for two minutes had 34% germination and seeds that were soaked in water at 7◦C for two minutes (control) had 29% germination.

Based on the result of the study, seeds soaked in water at 80◦C for two minutes were recommended as the best germination treatment to break seed dormancy experienced in Parkia biglobosa  seeds.