Effects of seed treatment and storage containers on germination and storability of Semecarpus anacardium linn. f. seed

Semecarpus anacardium Linn. f. is a species of high medicinal and economic value gaining more popularity for preparation of anticancer and antitumor medicines in ayurveda. The natural germination after a period of storage is less. With this information the study was conducted to explore the effects of different seed treatments on germination and storage

The experiment on seed germination techniques of Semecarpus anacardium Linn. f. were carried out in the nursery of the forestry, forest Research garden pune the different treatments were given to know their effect on seed germination and storage technique due to medicinal importance of the species and low viability after the storage of seed for long time germination decreases in this connection an attempt were made & study the germination potential of the species. The different treatment have been tried such as treatment with sulphuric acid for 5 min, thiourea 0.5 and 1% for 12 hours KN0₃1% for 12 hours and GA3 100 ppm and 200 ppm Among the different treatment tried treatment with GA3 200 ppm was found more significant to increase the germination percentage significantly followed by thiourea area, KN0₃ and H₂S0₄ the study also revealed that the interaction between seed source variation and treatment effect significantly different in seed germination starting date, closing date, germination percentage and rates of germination.

Seeds of Semecarpus anacardium linn. f. at the rate with 6%Moisture contained treated with (i) captan at the rate 2g/kg. (ii) Activated clay in the ratio of l:100.(iii) activated clay and Bavistin at the rate 2g each/kg and (iv) cow dung ash at the rate 1:10 were compared for storability with (v) untreated control. Storability included (i) cloth bags (ii) polythene bags of 700 gauge. Seeds treated with captan 43 and 45 percent germ inability was noticed in cloth and polythene bags respectively even after 30 months of storage and differed significantly from all other treatments.