Full Length Research Paper
Abstract
The germination of korarima (Aframomum corrorima (Braun) P.C.M. Jansen) seeds faces certain problems. The study was carried out to explore the effects of different seed treatments on germination and seedling growth attributes of korarima. Seeds were subjected to seven pre-sowing treatments viz., control (no pretreatment) (T0), soaking in tap water for 24 h (T1), soaking in 50% sulfuric acid (H2SO4) for 60 min (T2), soaking in 50% sulfuric acid (H2SO4) for 60 min, followed by soaking in 250 mgL-1 gibberellic acid (GA3) for 24 h (T3), cold stratification at 4±1oC for one week (T4), cold stratification at 4±1oC for two weeks (T5) and cold stratification at 4±1oC for three weeks (T6). Also micropropagation systems were developed for highland korarima cultivars viz., Mume, Wondogenet and Mesketo. The effective concentration of hormones for shoot multiplication and rooting in cultivar Mume were determined. Two explant sources, in vitro seedling shoot tips and field grown rhizome buds of cultivar Mume were evaluated. The study revealed that exposure of seeds to T3 was the most effective treatment for enhancing germination (88.3%), followed by 81.7% germination obtained from T2 after 6 weeks of sowing. Other treatments were less effective. Seed pretreatment had positive effects on seedling height, number of leaves, root number, root length and fresh weight. The highest number of shoots and percent survival was achieved in the cultivar Mume as compared to other two cultivars after five weeks of in vitro culture. Significantly higher shoots number (11.00), leaves number (15.33) and fresh weight (0.81 g) per explant of cultivar Mume was obtained when cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 0.5 mgL-1 thidiazuron (TDZ) compared to number of shoots (2.67), number of leaves (6.00) and fresh weight (0.25g) in the control. MS medium with 0.5 mgL-1 TDZ and 3 mgL-1 6-benzyladenine (BA) also gave high shoot number (10.00) per explant. The growth parameters were significantly correlated. The highest percent survival and number of shoots were obtained from in vitro seedling shoot tips compared to rhizome buds. The indolebutyric acid (IBA) at 1 mgL-1 significantly promoted the rooting (75.56%) over the control (33.33%).
Key words: Aframomum corrorima, korarima, cultivar, seed germination, seedling growth, micropropagation, shoot formation.
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