Effects of pre-sowing treatments on germination of Jatropha curcas L. seeds

Successful production of healthy seedlings in a forest nursery can be ensured through seed treatment to enhance germination. This study assessed the effects of pre-sowing treatments on the germination of Jatropha curcas; to provide the best treatment for enhancing seedling production. The experiment was laid in a completely randomized design with four treatments: (i) control (T1), (ii) soaking in; water at room temperature at room temperature for 16 hours (iii) cow-dung slurry for 16 hours (iv) 98% concentrated sulphuric acid for 5 minutes Each treatment received 10 seeds and was replicated 5 times giving a total of 200 seeds sown in sterilized river bank sand. Germinated seeds were counted, converted to percentages and arsine values. The data were further subjected to analysis of variance and significant means were separated using Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that seeds with no pre-sowing treatment had the highest mean germination (66%), DMRT revealed that significant difference (P<0.05) existed between seeds with no pre-sowing treatment and other treatments. The study concluded that viable Jatropha curcas seeds have no germination problem; the seeds could be germinated without pre-sowing treatment.