Study on Seed Orientation for Production Quality Seedlings in Biofuel Tree Species

Studies were conducted at the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu in the major biofuel crops viz., Jatropha (Jatropha curcas), pungam (Pongamia pinnata), simarouba (Simarouba glauca), neem (Azadirachta indica) and mahua (Madhuca longifolia) to standardize the orientation of seed at sowing under germination room condition for expression of their maximum germination with seedling quality characters. The results revealed that orienting the seeds as radicle down wards for Jatropha curcas and Madhuca longifolia and orienting seeds as flat for Pongamia pinnata, Azadirachta indica and Madhuca longifolia resulted in production of higher percentage of normal seedlings (Germination) with better seedling quality characters viz., shoot length, root length, fresh weight, dry weight and vigour index.