Enhancement of seed germination in stored seeds using different pre-sowing treatments in Bauhinia purpurea L.

Bauhinia purpurea L. is one of the important avenue tree species used in garden, road side plantations and other places. Fresh seed produce good germination upto 75 to 100 per cent. Seeds of this species stored for five months produced less germination (38.00 %) and it could be due to seed dormancy. Hence, the present study was carried out to evaluate different seed treatments to enhance seed germination in stored seeds of B. purpurea. Treatment like soaking seeds in hot water for 2 min to 5 min followed by overnight soaking in normal water resultedin highest germination of about 59.00 per cent over control (40.00%). Significant variation for germination parameters such as mean daily germination, germination rate index and germination value as well as early seedling vigour was recorded among different pre-sowing treatments in stored seeds.