Effect of presowing seed treatments on seed germination and seedling growth of sandalwood (Santalum album L.)

Sandalwood (Santalum album L.) is indigenous to India and belongs to the family Santalaceae. It is a vulnerable species as listed in the Red Data Book. Sandalwood has a high demand for its highly valued essential oil and wood. The oil extracted from the heartwood of Santalum album is used as a fragrance enhancer and preparation of costly perfumes. It was strongly associated with Indian religious and culture. The seeds of sandalwood have inherent morphophysiological dormancy, low and prolonged germination and poor establishment of seedlings. To overcome this problem, a research was carried out to study the effect of GA3, cow urine, cow dung slurry and chemicals such as HNO3, KNO3, Thiourea and H2SO4 on seed germination and morphological parameters of sandalwood at ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Anand, Gujarat. It was observed that GA3 @1500ppm proved the best treatment for breaking the seed dormancy along with better germination and seedling growth of sandalwood. Significantly maximum seed germination percentage (41%), collar diameter (3.05mm), fresh weight of root (0.53g), fresh weight of shoot (1.06g), fresh weight of foliage (2.92g), fresh weight of plant (4.51g), root length (11.52cm), shoot length (22.42cm), dry weight of shoot (0.27g), dry weight of root (0.15g), number of leaves (17.60) and dry weight of foliage (0.32g) was recorded as compared to the untreated seeds and also other treatments. From this study, it can be suggested that treating Santalum album seeds with GA3@1500ppm gave higher germination percentage and better growth of the seedlings of sandalwood