Seed germination of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera Dunal.): A potential medicinal plant

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera Dunal.), belonging to family solanaceae is a wonder herb with multiple medicinal properties. It is propagated though seeds and quality seeds are necessary for raising healthy medicinal plants. The seed testing procedure for conducting the germination test for ashwagnadha seeds is yet to be standardized and incorporated in the seed testing manual. Seed germination has been found to be erratic at times in Ashwagandha and in view of this, experiments were carried out in order to standardize the optimum temperature and suitable medium for germination and to finalize seed germination for which seeds were subjected to constant temperatures of 20, 25 and 30^°C with 10 different treatments subjecting to each treatment for confirmation and enhancing seed germination under controlled condition. In the present investigation, the temperature of 25^°C recorded the mean lowest days of germination initiation in 4.8 days and complete germination was achievable in 10.2 days with MGT of 8.10 followed by 5.5 days, 11.3 days and MGT of 8.51 at 30^°C and 5.8 days and 12.4 days with MGT of 9.35 at 20^°C in genotypes WS-134 and WS-20. Maximum mean germination of 83.8% was found at 25^°C followed by 75.5 at 30^°C and minimum at 62.2% at 20^°C in genotype WS-134. Genotype WS-20 (mean germination of 77, 70 and 55% at 25, 30 and 20^°C, respectively) though had at par value for onset of germination but seed germination was less as compared to WS-134 and again at 25^°C the performance was best followed by 30^°C and 20^°C. When individual treatment was considered, seeds treated with Gibberellic Acid (GA₃) gave the maximum germination (85–94%) with minimum days for onset of germination and completion of germination with minimum MGT as compared to 40–58% germination in control in WS134 and 38–51% in WS-20. Genotype WS-134 performed better than WS-20. It could be concluded that under controlled condition seeds treated with GA₃ would definitely give enhanced germination at a given temperature as compared to a very negligible germination of 40–58%.