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The Effect of Priming and Artificial Dormancy Breaking Techniques on Germination and Seedling Establishment of Date Palm

Muhammad MT

Effect of Priming and Artificial Dormancy Breaking Technique in Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L) was a study conducted in Sokoto metropolis, Sokoto. The treatments were made up of two (fresh and dry) seed with five different methods of breaking seed dormancy, seeds were soaked in acid (NHO3), boiling water, cold water and scarified mechanically while control seeds were not treated. Experiments were laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) and each treatment was replicated two times. Germination rates were measured weekly (%) for four weeks and seedling height (cm) was measured at 2 weeks interval beginning from 29 days after sowing in a period of eight weeks. Higher germination rate of 100% was observed in the fresh seed treated with cold water and boiled water while scarified seed showed (93.33%) then seed treated with acid (NHO3) showed (0.00%) at day 50 after sowing. No significant difference observed between the treatments (P>0.05). The height of the plants was also measured after germination at day 71 after sowing. It was found that the control of the fresh and dry seed had 22.98 cm height, seed treated with boiled water showed 26.00 and 24.32 cm for the fresh and dry seed respectively; dry and fresh seed treated with cold water showed 24.26 and 23.22 cm respectively and lastly, scarified dry and fresh seeds attained 23.76 and 23.22 cm respectively. The results indicated an optimum germination and seedling establishment in Date palms occurred in fresh seeds. It is recommended that the number of days should be increased in each treatment before planting so as to identify if there is significant different between fresh and dry seeds for the effect of priming and artificial dormancy breaking technique in date palm using various treatment.