EJIROGHENE OKUGBERE

Hydropriming has proved to be the most potent form of seed germination enhancement in not just final germination but also in speed of germination and time taken to reach 50% of total germinated seeds of Napoloenaea vogelii Hook. and Planch. Priming seeds in solutions significantly affected seed germination (P<0.05), with smoke water treatments, hydro and halopriming having significantly higher germination means Maximum germination percentage was observed in hydropriming with 90% germination while Halopriming (NaCl 2, and 4g/l) had total germination percentages of 85% each. Napoleonaea vogelii seeds also responded positively to smoke water treatment for 10 and 20 minutes with 80% and 77.50% respectively. Effect of bush fire proved to be deleterious, showing the lowest germination percentage of 32.50%. Seeds collected from decaying fruits on trees has low mean germination percentage of 34.17%. The effect of various treatments was significant on the speed of germination. All forms of priming showed improved speed of germination with hydropriming being superior with a mean speed of 2.99 day-1. Control showed the least speed with 0.39 day-1. Plants in complete darkness showed the highest mean growth in height (32.42cm) while those in 24hrs light showed lowest growth in height (18.88cm). Hydropriming and Halopriming (2g/l) also showed significant growth in heights (24.12cm and 24.08cm respectively). The seeds of Diospyros barteri Hiern. did not show any germination under all treatments given to seeds.