Effect of pretreatments on the germination and early growth performance of Moringa oleifera seeds (Lam) at nursery stage

Some fruits have difficulties in germination hence their propagation is adversely affected by seed coat dormancy resulting in poor inhibitions and germination potential. This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of pre-treatments on the germination and early growth performance of Moringa oleifera seedlings at nursery stage. The pre-treatment included soaking 24hours, 48 hours, 72hours and control seed not soaked. The experiment was arranged in a Complete Randomize Design (CRD) with four treatments and three replications. A total of 360 seeds (Three replications of 90 seeds) per treatment weresown. The growth parameters such as number of leaves, numbers of branches, stem height, stem width and leaf area were assessed. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Germination percentage across the various pre- germination treatments revealed that Moringa seeds soaked for 24hours had the highest percentage germination of 87.7% closely followed by seeds soaked in cold water for 48hours (68.8%). The least percentage germination was observed in Moringa seeds soaked in water for 72hours (53.3%). The results also indicated that pre-treatments of Moringa seeds significantly (P<0.05) improved the performance of the seedlings with regards to number of leaves, branches, plant height, stem width and leaf area with 24hours Moringa oleifera seeds soaked in cold water. Keywords: Pre-treatment, Germination, Growth performance, Nursery, Moringa oleifer