Seed Treatment to Enhance Germination in Persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.)

Poor seed germination due to seed dormancy is a problem in persimmons. A trial was conducted to determine the rate of seed germination for persimmons, with or without cold stratification, and to evaluate the various growth responses of seedlings. Experiments were conducted for four treatment methods: seeds which were not stratified but were soaked in water for one week and kept moist (T1), seeds cold stratified at 5 0 C for 30 days (T2), 60 days (T3), and 90 days (T4). The treated seeds were sown in poly pots and kept in a green house. Data on seed germination and seedling growth were collected, and analysis of variance was done to compare the effect of the treatments. Results showed that some of the stratified seeds started to germinate 30 days after sowing, while the unstratified seeds started germinating 40 days after sowing. This indicated that cold stratification hastens the germination process of seed, and requires a minimum of 30 days to break dormancy irrespective of the stratification period, and takes a longer time to break dormancy in the soaking method. At 90 days after sowing, however, there was no significant difference (p > .05) in germination among the treatments; with T4 (76.7%), T1 (71.3%), T2 (65.3%), and T3 (58.7%). Moreover, there was no significant difference (p >.05) in seedling growth such as seedling root length, height, number of leaves formed and stem girth among the treatments. Therefore, it is concluded that soaking of seeds and keeping them moist for a week breaks the persimmon seed dormancy, making stratification unnecessary. More trials, however, are recommended to find efficient soaking methods of persimmon seed germination.