Effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of Andrographis paniculata

Andrographis paniculata is a medicinal herb found in Asia, which belongs to the family Acanthaceae. It has high medicinal values including antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-hepatitis, and anti-cancer properties. The low germination rate of A. paniculata seeds makes the growing of the herb difficult, less efficient, and less productive. This situation leads to low yield and the present high market demand cannot be fulfilled. Keeping this in view, this study analyzed the effects of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of A. paniculata. The seeds were primed with osmopriming and hormopriming treatments. The seeds were osmoprimed with polyethylene glycol-8000 (PEG-8000) at −0.4, -0.8, -1.2 and -1.6 MPa for 24 h in dark and hormoprimed with gibberellic acid (GA₃) at 50, 75, 100 and 125 ppm. The seeds were germinated for 14 days and seedling analysis were determined. Osmopriming showed positive result on germination compared to hormopriming and control. Seed primed with -0.8 MPa of PEG produced the highest germination percentage of 71.5%. Meanwhile seed primed with -0.4 MPa of PEG resulted in the maximum fresh weight (0.26g), root length (1.93 cm), shoot length (0.59 cm) and seedling length (2.55 cm) as compared to the other treatments and control. Based on the results, further studies can be planned to analyse the effect of optimal seed priming on the plant growth.