Effect of pre-sowing treatments on seed germination, survival and seedling growth of Jatropja curcas, Linn. in temperate conditions of Kashmir

The experiment on pre-sowing treatments of Jatropha curcas, Linn. was conducted in the division of forestry, SKUAST-K, Shalimar with the objective of introduction of Jatropha in temperate conditions of Kashmir. The results reveal that the seedling grew luxuriantly from May to December and got wilted in the month of January due to preponderance of chilling conditions in the region. Among the five tested pre-sowing treatments (control (TJ, hot water (T), hydrochloric acid (TJ, fresh cow dung (T.J, and decomposed cow dung (TJ, it was decomposed cow dung (TJ which out performed over rest of the pre-sowing treatments in respect of germination, survival, seedling height and collar diameter. Six collections namely TNMC-2, TNMC-3, TNMC-4, TNMC-7 and TNMC-22 were tested under nursery conditions. TNMC-22 collection observed to be the best amongst all the tested collections. These collections did not follow the definite trend with the pre-sowing treatments. The collection TNMC-4 gave the lowest value of germination and survival percentage while, it was replaced by TNMC-2 with respect to growth attributes. The findings of present experiment revealed that the Jatropha curcas can't be grown in temperate conditions of Kashmir valley.