Abstract:
Poor seedling establishment is a problem with bitter gourd as the embryo is enclosed by a
thick seed coat, which affect the germination by imposing mechanical restriction on embryo
growth. To overcome this problem, pre germinated seeds of bitter gourd may be sown. Hence,
studies were conducted to find out a suitable pre-germination method that could give the
maximum percentage of emergence of bitter gourd cv. CO 1 seeds after sowing. For this, the
seeds were soaked in water, CaCl2 @ 2%, KNO3 @ 2%, moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaf ex
tract @ 2% and panchakavya @ 3% (an organic solution-method of preparation given in the
text) for different soaking period viz., 3, 6, 9 and 12 h followed by different durations of incu
bation viz., 3, 4, 5 and 7 days. Among the different treatments, 100 per cent pre-germination
of bitter gourd seeds was achieved when soaked in panchakavya @ 3% solution for 9 h with
7 days of incubation which was at par with soaking in KNO3 @ 2 % solution for 9 h and in
cubated for 7 days which recorded 88 per cent germination.
