Studies on the seed germination and seedling growth of guava

The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of pre-sowing treatments and environments on seed germination and seedling growth of guava. The objective of the study was to get healthy seedling rootstocks with highest survival percentage in minimum possible time.The seeds scarified with hydrochloric acid (10%) for 2 minutes was found best one with very high seed germination percentage, seed vigour index, per cent survival of seedlings and takes minimum number of days required for seed germination as compared to the rest of treatments. Scraping of seed coat with sand paper + seeds soaked in Gibberellic acid 50 ppm for 24 hours resulted in relatively higher seedlings elongation rate, seedling height, stem girth of seedlings, number of leaves per seedling, fresh and dry weight of seedlings, fresh and dry weight of leaves and leaf area of seedlings. All the germination and growth parameters were found best in protected environment as compared to open field condition. Sowing of seeds without pre-sowing treatment showed poor results for all the parameters.