Kattimani, K. N., Rcddy. Y. N. and Rajeswar Rao, B. (t999). Seed Sci. & Tcchhol.. 27,483,488

Effect of pre-sowing seed treatment on germination, seedlingemergence, seedling vigour and root yield of Ashwagandha(Wt h ania s omnifera Daunal.)K. N. KATTIMANIT. Y. N. REDDYT and B. RAJES\VAR RAO:r Professor and Head, Department ofHorticukure and Principal, College olAgriculture. Angrau,

Raiendranagar, HyderabadI Senior Scientisi, Central Institute ofMedicinal and Aromatic Planrs, Field Starion, Boduppal, Hydcrabad(Accepted O(tobet I 998)

Summary

A field experiment was conducted at the College ofAg cultule, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad to study the effectofpre-sowing seed treatments on seed vigour, root length and dry root yield ofAshwagandha under tlte aglo-climatic condiiions of Andhra Pradesh. Seedling vigour revealed that seeds soakcd with nitrates of sodiumand potassium at 1.0% for 24 h produced more vigourorLs seedlings, higher drymatter accumulation and rootlength as compared to unsoaked and water soaked seeds. Unsoaked seeds recorded mlnimum root lengththroughout the different stages ofcrop growth except l5 days after sowing. Seeds soaked with nitrate of sodi-um and potassium at 1.0% recorded maximum dry roor yield of3.93 and 3.43 g/plant respectively.

Introduction

Ashwagandha (Withania somniJbra Daunal) is an important medicinal plant cultivatedin north-westem region of Madhya Pradesh or about 4000 ha (Nigam, 1984). Ashwa-gandha roots and occasionally its leaf and seed are used in ayuruedic and unani medi-cines. Roots are prescribed for hiccup, female disorder, bronchites, rheumatism anddropsy. It is also prescribed for curing general sexual weakness in humans. Warmleaves are used for providing comfort during eye diseases. Pharmoecological activity isdue to the presence ofseveral alkaloids in roots.

Pre-sowing soaking of seeds in mineral solution is repofied to hasten seed germina-tion in several cultivated plants (Singh and Singh, 1973). Increase ofseedling length inpumpkin, improvemel]t in vegetative growth and dr],rnatter production and hnal yieldin carrot (Alekseeva and Rasskazov, 1976).

For better establishment of this medicinal plants under normal conditions, the com-mon practice is to sow the seeds directly in the field. Under such conditions there isneed for a reliable method of germinating the seeds quickly and to increase the rootlength, since the root is the primary source of alkaloid. Though many pre-sowingtreatments are known to improve seed germination in general, not many of them wereutilized for improving germination and to increase root length in this crop. Informa-tion is available on its medicinal uses and its constituents but no information is avail-

483

K, N, KATIIMANI. Y. N, REDDY AND A RAIESWAR RAOable regarding pre-soakinp of seeds in mineral solulion and therr impacts on roorlength and dry root yieldl Some-of the pr"_rorirg'.ir"urri"itr' huu" in"."ur"d ,ootgrowth in.orher crops. Hence. studies *ere ,"aar"E,

""'ir,t..".,seed soaking with din"..ri -ir*J."rt.

""a,irir'*0""'i;il:',H:[ ;:ffi i,lftliofAshwagandha.Materials and methods

seeds of Ashwagan dha (Irithania-somnifera) var.,Jawahar-20, were soaked in 0.5 and1.0% solutions each of nitmtes of potas;iunr, "._orir_, "o'U"fiiodium, calcium andzinc. The treatmnt consisted ol soaking f", Z+ f, i, *,p*t"J rr""" solutions fol_lowed by air drying of seeds to remove the .urfuce moistui" ,naer ian fO.5 h) at an am-bient temperature ranging from 25.5"C to 27.s.C. t;";;; ;;#;,,utlii'r;ii-1

seed were included in the experiment for comparison.Alier treating, 100 seed from each treatme-nt were sown in field at a spacing of30 x,19.:: ::l:-'::1r:r hi[ ) at a depth of 1.0 ._ u,J .ou..J *i"tr,' iigl,t .oir. n.om tt

"udy or sowrng up to comprele germination ofseeds. warering was done lwice a weektlrrh a rose can. subseouenllv hv lurrou irrigation wirh fZ_iSJ"r, rnter\al depend_ing upon the soir moisture ;.d *..,h;.^;;;;ffi;:;,i il';;immended culturalpractices were adopted for raising the healthy

"r"p.1fr.-."ii "iifr" experimental plotwas red sandy loam. The treatments (14) weie ."pf i.""J i"r. ,_"s in a randomizedblock design. Sowing of seeds was done in the n*, *""t "i'argust, 1996 (latekhari0 at the Department ofHorticulture, College oi;;ri:;j,; Rajendranagar, Hy_

Germination counts were recorded every day lrom 7 to 14 days after sowing, till thef^.,Tj:r]:i,i:-, completety c.eased. Appearanc" oiprr_ri" lii'r",iken a, trr" c.iterio,ror germrnatro[ and exDressed in percentage. The number of

AGANDIIA IWITI]ANIA SOMNIFERA DA1JNAI- J

Results and discussion

Seed soaking in sodium nitrate 1.0% solution for 24 h signifrcantly reduced the numberol days taken for gemination (9 days), enhanced the germination percentage (92.13),gemination rate index (28.74) and vigour index (670.73) compared to other pre-sowingseed treatments (Table 1). Without any soaking treatment (seeds sown as such) tookmore number of days lor germination (13.67) followed by seeds soaked in water(12.00). The less number of days taken by seed treatment with sodium nitrate 1.0%might be due to altered physiological condidion of the embryo. It may be also due toliberation of enzymes, thus rapidly increasing in the production of soluble food nutri-ents, the whole system is already in motion so that when the seeds are sown develop-mental processes go on more rapidly than in case of unsoaked seeds. The germinationpercentage was significantly lower when seeds were sown as such (25.73) followed byseed soaked in water (27.93). Similar effect of water soaked seeds of fennel increasedthe germination 2 3 times more than unsoaked seeds (Patel and Jaisani, 1964). Germi-nation rate index (8.58), vigour index (102.24) were significantly low when the seedswere sown as such without any soaking treatment (Table 1).

The shoot and root length with different pre-sowing treahnents are presented in Table2. Significant differences were observed due to the influence ofvarious seed treatments.Soaking ofseed with sodium nitrate and calcium nitrate solutions at 1.0% significantlyincreased the shoot length (2.54 cm) followed by zinc nitate l.lyo (2.52 cm) at l5 daysafter sowing (DAS). The root length was significantly increased by sodium nitrate at1.0% (4.74 cm) followed by zinc nitrate at 1.0% (4.14 cm). The minimum shoot andTabie 1. Mean values olseed vigour tests wlth different pre-sowing treatmerts in Ashwagandha.

Numberofdays Germinationiaken lor germi- ("/,\nation (days)

Germinationrate index

12.2318.3020.58t6.5223.1919.5 818.'7220.6828.7417.1521.0425.8117.238.58

0.29s0.858

Vigourindex

104.98229.56391.24265.15400.12314.l6301.12366.s]670.73380.80369.64509.06312.04102.24

5.10514.814

Water 12.00Potassium niEate 0.5% 10.00Potassium nilmte 1.0% 10.00Ammoniumnitrate0.5% 11.00Ammonium nitrate 1.0% 11.00Cobalt nirrale 0.5Vo 11.00cobaltnitmte L0% 11.00Sodium nitrate 0.5% 9.33Sodium nitrate 1.0% 9.00Calcium nitrate 0.5% 10.67Calcium nitraie 1.0Yo 11.00Zinc nitrate 0.5% 11.00Zinc nitrate 1.0Yo 11.00Seed sown as such (contrcl) 13.67

27.9357.2067.8150.3178.7 761.,1056.0767.9792.t356.,1061.70E3.1355.4725.73

3.261g 491

S.Em.+ 0.146CD at 5% 0.425

485

K. N, KATTIMANl. Y. N, REDDY AND B. RAIESWAR RAO

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; onN ---o-o 3?5 nqe!ac!-: oooo.o-

PRE SOWINC SEED TRLATMINT OF ASIIWAGANDHA (WITH NIA SOMNIfERA D UNAI Iroot length was recorded when seed was soaked with water (0.97 cm and 1.66 cm re_spectively) at 15 DAS.

Soaking seeds with sodium nitmte resulted in significantly higher root length andshoot lengts in all the treatments at 15, 30, 45, 60,15 DAS and at harvest, while seedtreated with potassium nitrate at 1.0% resulted in 6.20 cm, 9.32 cm, 10.2j cm and 13.j3cm root length at 45, 60, 75 and at harvest ofthe crop respectively (Table 2). Therefore,it is concluded that the soaking of seeds with nitrates of sodium and potassium at 1.0%increased the root length of Ashwagandha. The increase in root length due to varioustreatments can be due to the beneficial effect in uniform germination, due to intensifiedhydrolytic process, better uptake of nutdents and soil moisture, imparting stimulationfor better establishment of seedling. Similar benehcial physiological and biochemicaleffects of pre-sowing seed treatments with mineral solutions and nutrient solution atvarious concentrations were also observed with cotton by Kuradikeri and Kuradikeri(1988) and with com by Kid and West (1919).

The increase in total dry ntatter accumulation per plant was signihcantly influencedby seed soaking treatments (Table 3). The seeds soaked with nitrates ol sodium andpotassium at 1.0% have beneficial effect on dry matter accumulation of 13.86 g andI 1.92 g respectively. The minimum dry rnatter accumulation was recorded with seedssown without any soaking treatment (8.19 g). The dry root yield increased significantlydue to the influence of various pre-sowing treatments. Soaking seeds with nitrates ofsodium and potassium at 1.002 resulted ir maximum root yield of3.93 g and 3.43 g re-spectiyely. The minimum dry root yield was recorded in seeds sown without any soak-Table 3. Effect ofpre-sowing seed reatmenrs on dry mafter accumulatjon (g/planr) and root yield (g/planr) atharvest olAshwagandha.

Treatments

Potassilrmnirrate 0.5%Potassiumnitrate l.0o/rAmmonium nitrate 0.5%Ammoniumnitrate l-0%Cobalt nitrate 0.5%Cobalt nitrate 1.0%Sodium nitrate 0.5%Sodium nirrate 1.0%Calcium nitrate 0.5%Calciun nitrate 1.0o/.Zinc nitrateZinc nirr eSeed sown as such (control)

Total dry matteraccumulatiol (shoot +rcot) (g/plant)

L3110.56I l.9t11.319.96

11.9111.719.63

i 3.86t1.479.86

11.399.898.19

0.9762.839

Dry root yield (g/planl)

2.t63.233.432.t62.132.702.763 t03.933.302.932.802.702.13

0.0560.156

0.5yo1.0%

S.Em.+CD at 5%

487

K. N KATTIMANl. Y. N, RIDDY AND B. RA]ESWAR RAO

ing treatment and after sowing with ammonium nitrate at 1.0% (2.13 g). The increase inroot yield may be attdbuted to the fact that sodium and potassium are involved in main-taining the tone, vigour and efficiency of the plant. Hence, sodium and potassium maybe playing a critical role in increasing the physiological efficiency olplant parts ratherthan the plant morphology as observed with potato by Bhargava and Banerjee (1994).Similar report of soakilg of kernels ofber in 1% potassium nitrate solutior for 24 h be-fore sowing induced notable increase in root length of 2-3 times more as compared tounsoaked seeds (Murlhy alrd Reddy, 1989).

Pre-sowing seed treatments with nitrates of sodium and potassium at 1 .\Yo fot 24 h toAshwangadha seeds were found very effective and significantly increased the germina-tion percentage and reduced the number of days taken for germitation. These pre-sow-ing treatments significantly increased the germination rate index, vigour index and alsoincreased the root length, dry matter accumulation and dry root yield ofAshwangandha.

References

Alekseeva, A. M. and Rasskazov, M. A. (1976). Nauchnye Tmdy Voronezh S Kh. ln-t,85,5; fld,-ri.r/rlr"ab:tro ct, Y ol. 18. 1 523

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Bhargava, R. and Banerjee, V. N. (199,1). Effects ofN & K on root characterisiics ofpotato. Joro.nal ofPldntPhl,siology, 37 . 130-132.

Dhindwal, A. S.. Lather, B. P. S. and Jagadev Singh, (1991). Efficacy of seed rreatment on gemination,seedling emclgence and vigour ofcotton (Co$tpi t hirsuttnn) Eenotypes. Seed Research.l9(l),59 6l-

Kid, F. and Wcst, C. I 9 I 9. Inll uence of seed treatments and subsequent growth and yield of corn. A nnual ofapplied Biology,l,62.

Kuradikeri, M. B. and Kumdikeri, C. B. 1988. Seedling vigour in cotton as influenced by seed soaking trea!menL Seed Research,16,57 62.

Mulhy, B. N. S. and Reddy, Y. N. 1989. Improvement ofseed germination in Jujube wirh growlh regularorsand nitrogenous compounds.India Jounal o.fAgriculntral Sciekces,59(4),269)10.

Nigam, K. B. 1984. Ashwagandha cul ti\atio11. |ndial1 Horticulho'e.28.3941 .Patel, G. S. and Jaisani, B. G. 1964. Effect ofpre-sowing treatment and stage ofharvest on gemination of

fennel seeds. /,idid, Jortrnal of Agronotny, 9, 261 270.Singh, A. and Singh, H. N. 1973. The effect ofpre-sowing soaking witlr mineral solutiol1s on seedling vigoul

of cafio| Indion Jounal ol Aglicultut'al Sciences,43,9'73.

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