Abstract:
Phyllanthus emblica V. Nelli, belonged to family Euphorbiaceae, is an
important species as a medicinal plant. The fruit (drupe) of P. emblica is the
economically important component. It is also being used in industrial
processes such as synthesis of ayurvedic drugs and manufacturing of fruit
juices. When establishing breeding programs or orchards of P. emblica, seed
germination is a huge problem because seeds of P. emblica have a long
dormancy period and show very low rates of germination. This is greatly
contributing to remain it as an underutilized fruit crop because of the lack of
quality planting material. According to our knowledge, no detailed studies
have been carried out to study the seed dormancy of P. emblica and a
method to break the dormancy, although it is being identified as a prime
requirement to uplift this crop from its underutilized status. Thus the
objective of this study was to identify a method to overturn the seed
dormancy of P. emblica. The seeds were extracted from mature drupes. The
selected viable seeds were subjected to four pre-treatment‟s; no pre treatment, seed scarification, seed scarification and pre-treatment with 1%
gibberellin and seed coat removal and pre-treatment with 1% gibberellin.
The seed dormancy was only overturned with a germination percentage of
43% by the seed pre-treatment, seed scarification and pre-treatment with 1%
gibbberellin (after 85 days of pre-treatment) and no other pre-treatment
methods were able to break the dormancy of any seeds. Therefore, it can be
concluded that seed coat scarification and gibberellin pre-treatment can be
used to obtain increased germination of P. emblica seeds in conducting
breeding programs and establishing orchards for drupe production at
commercial scale.
