Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review ISSN 2315-6880 Vol. 4(7) pp. 217-224 July 2015 Available online http//www.basicresearchjournals.org Copyright ©2015 Basic Research Journal Full Length Research Paper Improvement of seed germination in some important multi-purpose leguminous trees of Islamabad Area: An experimental study Rana Zaheer Ahmad1, Muhammad Naqeeb ul Khalil Shaheen2*, Javed Afzal3, Sadar Uddin Siddique4, Imtiaz Ahmed Qamar5, Junaid Ahmed6 1,3,4,5,6 Natural Resource Management, the University of Agriculture, Peshawar. 2 International Islamic University, Islamabad. *Correspondence author email: naqeeb.shaheen@gmail.com Accepted 16 July, 2015; Published 23 July, 2015 ABSTRACT Major purpose of this study was to improve germination of important multi-purpose legume trees which included Phulai (Acacia modesta Linn.), Kala Shirin (Albizia lebbeck Linn.), Amaltas (Cassia fistula Linn.), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo Linn.) and Iple Iple (Leucaena leucocephala Lam.). Different methods of seed germination, viability, and dormancy were studied. Dormancy is a worldwide problem present in legume seeds leading to low germination percentage. Since seed coat dormancy usually occurs in legume trees, the present study was undertaken to overcome the reported low germination. Different pretreatments, i.e., soaking in normal tap water for 24 h, hot water soaking for 2 to 6 h, nicking and acid scarification for 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes were applied for breaking seed coat dormancy in laboratory conditions. The treatments improved seed germination with faster germination rate of the above selected species. The results showed that nicking and acid scarification significantly (P<0.05) improved germination percentage of Acacia modesta (92%), Cassia fistula (100%), and Leucaena leucocephala (98%), whereas soaking of Albizia lebbeck seeds in hot water for three h gave 80% germination. Dalbergia sissoo seeds gave 95% germination under control conditions. In view of these results, nicking for Acacia modesta; acid scarification for 15 minutes for Albizia lebbeck; nicking and acid scarification for 30 minutes for Cassia fistula; and nicking for Leucaena leucocephala seeds are recommended for enhancing percentage as well as speed of the germination. In case of Dalbergia sissoo, no treatment was recommended for attaining good germination. Keywords: Acacia modesta; Albizia lebbeck; Cassia fistula; Dalbergia sissoo; Leucaena leucocephala; Multipurpose Legume Trees. INTRODUCTION The trees are grown for centuries but the importance to improve quality of life was never felt. However, in this era when population is increasing with a tremendous rate and shortage of food and additionally, environmental issues like global warming is threatening us. So need of the hour is to plant maximum trees and ensure their benefits to environment and the end user. Seed dormancy is considered much important in this regard because the Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review Naqeeb et al. 218 more the seeds are dormant the less the trees are grown (Ahmad et al., 2011). Ajiboye et al., (2011) mentioned four major categories of seed dormancy i.e. Physical dormancy, chemical dormancy, morphological dormancy and physiological dormancy. Physical dormancy or hard seed coats occurs when seeds are impermeable to water. At dormancy break, a specialized structure, the ‘water gap’ is disrupted in response to environmental cues, especially temperature, so water can enter the seed and germination can occur (Dell, 1980). Chemical dormancy considers species that lack physiological dormancy, but where a chemical prevents germination. This chemical can be leached out of the seed by rainwater or snow melt or be deactivated. In morphological dormancy, germination is prevented due to morphological characteristics of the embryo (Aiken and Springer, 1985). In some species, the embryo is just a mass of cells when seeds are dispersed; it is not differentiated. Before germination can take place, both differentiation and growth of the embryo have to occur. In other species, the embryo is differentiated but not fully grown (underdeveloped) at dispersal, and embryo growth up to a species specific length is required before germination can occur. Physiological dormancy means the embryo, due to physiological causes, cannot generate enough power to break through the seed coat, endosperm or other covering structures. Dormancy is typically broken at cool wet, warm wet or warm dry conditions (Ajiboye et al., 2011). In the federal capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, multipurpose trees (MPT) are grown and managed for variety of purposes. One of the most important benefits is getting food for human and feed for livestock. Many trees are important as they help improve nutritional status of food and feed crops by nitrogen fixation and excess to more nutrients through deep rooting system. MPT are a big source of direct combustion, oil lattice and resin obtained from them. Shelter is another aspect, as these provide shade to human as well as to livestock. These are also used for raw material processing for a variety of purposes. Fiber in waving, long term benefits in the crop production and improvement in environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Keeping in view the importance of MPT in livestock production as well as in landscaping, few promising legume species suitable for Islamabad area were selected for this study. These include Phulai (Acacia modesta Linn), Kala Shirin (Albizia lebbeck Linn), Amaltas (Cassia fistula Linn.), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo Linn.) and Iple Iple (Leucaena leucocephala Lam.). These plant species belong to the family Fabaceae. In this modern era of science and technology, quality of seed is ensured so that better production can be gained that will result in saving time, money, space and labor. The above species gave low germination percentage when tested in the nursery conditions at the Rangeland Research Institute (RRI), National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad (Ahmad et al., 2011). The problem of low germination commits lot of inputs in the form of time, money and labor to produce desired number of seedlings in the nursery. Therefore, this study was envisaged to study phenology (flowering and seed harvest time), number of seeds per kg, viability, germination percentage, and dormancy breaking procedures of the above mentioned species to improve rate and germination percentage for achieving maximum output from the nursery stock in comparatively short time period of different legume tree species suitable for Islamabad area. Related studies Singh and Sofi (2011) made a clonal seed orchard of Dalbergia sissoo at Hoshiarpur. Dalbergia sissoo is a drought resistant, frost hardy and widely distributed throughout Sub Himalayan and Himalayan valley upto 1,000 m. The study suggests that it is a suitable tree for afforestation, reforestation and restoration of degraded lands. There was a lot of variation in seed size, seed weight, germination percent and growth rate in nursery in different clones over the years. Seed length, seed width and seed weight were positively correlated to each other but seed size have no effect on germination percent and germination value under laboratory conditions. However, seed weight was positively correlated with germination percent in nursery. Finally, there was no consistency in the seed characters, germination and seedling growth parameters studied. Yadav and Singh (2011) studied the propagation of Albizia lebbeck. Stored seeds have different colors like yellow, dark yellow and brownish yellow, and were harvested in November to January from field and were surface sterilized using different concentrations of mercuric chloride (0.05- 0.15%) for different exposure durations. Dark yellow colored seeds showed highest germination and short germination time and those who have brownish yellow have longer germination time. Seed germination goes high with the seed maturity. Cassia fistula and Cassia nodosa trees are recreational elements of the ecosystem and can be complementary to shrubs, climbers and ground cover in greenery and landscape activities. A study was conducted at the Arid Land Agriculture and Greenery Department of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). The study addressed different pretreatment methods, like acid scarification, use of distilled water for five minutes and then rinsed by tap water. The seeds were dipped in water at 21 ºC or 50 ºC. The soaking water changed daily. After sowing it was observed that seedling root and shoot were prominent in those who were treated with acid (Al Menaie et al., 2009). Guner and Tilki (2009) studied the effect of sulphuric acid Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review 219. Basic Res. J. Agric. Sci. Rev. scarification and stratification on germination of seeds of Acacia nilotica of different provenances. Sulphuric acid was not much productive for breaking dormancy. Germination percentage and germination rate increased significantly with increase in stratification duration (30 to 120 day) with optimum temperature for 120 days for all seed provenance. Seed scarified with sulphuric acid followed by cold moist stratification showed significant improvement for germination performances. Highest improvement observed under scarification followed by stratification treatments and seeds from three provenances exhibited uniformity in response. Karaboon et al. (2005) study tells that blocking of water access into the seed is the most common cause of delay in seed germination (Bahorun et al., 2005). Cassia fistula is national tree of Thailand. Low germination rate and hard seed coats are major problems with it seed. Newly harvested seeds with 10% moisture content were taken. Three methods were applied. i.e. nicking, acid scarification by conc. H2SO4 for 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes and hot water treatment by soaking 50, 55, 70 and 90 ºC for 30 min. Standard germination test was recorded. The acid scarification for 15 to 20 min gave the best result with 81% germination. A very successful study conducted on Acacia nilotica by stimulating natural conditions. Some observations were recorded under conditions like water soaking, soil burial and shade placement on seeds and pods. The seeds were soaked in water for 24 weeks with or without forest soil. It was shown that natural habitat had prominent effect on seed breaking dormancy. Seeds which were soaked performed well up to 18 weeks but germination decreased when they were soaked for more period. The soaking time given to the seeds when increased it started softening of seed coat. The changes in germination percentage actually represent changes in seed coat (Warrag and Eltigani, 2005). Bhardwaj et al. (2003) conducted some pre-sowing experiments for breaking hard coat seed dormancy in Albizia lebbeck. He dipped seeds in water for 24 hours. Then applied hot water treatment for 30 minutes, sand scarification for 15 min., conc. H2SO4 for 10, 20, 40 and 60 min., nicking and control treatments. All these treatments had a significant difference over control value. Nicking gave the best result 87% which was closely followed by acid scarification 85% for 40, 60 min. Likewise, germination value and germination speed was also high in these treatments over the control treatment. Walliams et al. (2003) applied fire cues (heat shock, smoke and nitrate) to break seed dormancy of important legumes of north Australia. Species included native Chamaearista mimosoides, Crotolaria calycina, Crotalaria Montana, Indigofera hirusuta and Tephrosia junacea and exotic species Crotalaria lanceolata. A little response to temperature between 80 to 100 °C was found to break the seed dormancy while given 80° C with nitrate to native herbs produced no effect at heavy seeds. At the end 100° to 120° C for five minutes resulted in mortality in all seeds this shows that fire promoted the germination but for a small time. But it was concluded that exotic species do not germinate due to heat shock. Morrison et al. (1998) studied pervious history of dormancy in legumes. He found that legumes have testa imposed dormancy. In particular lens plays an important role because it is a single site for water entry in the seed. The experiment was performed in such a manner that one group of legume seeds were given heat and one group was remained normal. It was clearly shown that heat played an important role as it broke the testa is from lens. Other groups due to non-availability of water gave low germination percentage. MATERIALS AND METHODS Different methods of seed germination percentage and dormancy breaking of five legume tree species, Phulai (Acacia modesta Linn.), Kala Shirin (Albizia lebbeck Linn.), Amaltas (Cassia fistula Linn.), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo Linn.), and Iple Iple (Leucaena leucocephala Lam.) were studied. Detailed methodology used for studying different seed characters is as follows. Seed germination testing After counting seeds/kg the same samples (4x50 seeds) were used for an initial germination test. The germination medium included fine sand, soil, and decomposed farm yard manure (FYM) in the ratio of 1:1:2, respectively. FYM mixed relatively in larger quantity because of poor soil conditions. Germination tested for about three-month period from April to June, when temperature and light regimes were appropriate for germination. During this period, data on germination were recorded. Seed viability testing The seeds of a species that did not germinate or gave very low germination percentage while grown in polythene tubes in the nursery conditions suggested that seeds were either unviable or dormant ones. Therefore, after seed germination testing, viability of these species was also tested. Viability is the possession in a seed of those processes essential for a seed to germinate (Hong et al., 1998; Ahirwar, 2012). Seed viability was tested by floating and cutting methods. Floating test One hundred seeds of a species randomly taken and Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review Naqeeb et al. 220 Table 1. Germination percentage of different tree species before dormancy breaking treatments Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 Scientific Name Acacia modesta Albizia lebbeck Cassia fistula Dalbergia sissoo Leucaena leucocephala soaked in water. The seeds floated on the surface of water just after soaking, were discarded because these were nonviable. Some floating seeds started sinking after some time probably due to water absorption. However, this was not infallible method as most of the seeds of some species like Dalbergia sissoo floated or all the seeds sank, e.g., Amaltas (Cassia fistula) regardless of viable or nonviable seeds. Furthermore, there was every possibility that seed might float because of presence of wing or light weight. This test was calibrated with the cutting test. Cutting test The seeds (both sunk and floated) used in floating test were kept soaking in the same water for 1-4 days. Seeds after 24 h soaking, checked with ocular estimation, whether they had become swollen due to turgidity. The swelling of seed represented its viability. The swollen seeds were discarded after counting as viable while the remaining seeds if soft enough were cut open lengthwise with a surgical knife to excise embryo from the seed. The excised embryo was checked whether it was discolored (grey), shrunken, damaged to include insect attack. The healthy embryo appeared plump, turgid, and generally a white or pale yellow. The seeds that were hard enough to give cut/incision were soaked for another day. The same exercise was repeated up to four days. On the fourth day, if seeds were still found hard enough to cut suggested impermeability of the seeds to water. These seeds were crushed gently with a small hammer. Seeds with firm white or pale yellow embryo were counted as viable. If the embryo was milky, viscous, or powdery one, seeds were counted as nonviable. Seeds which were empty, decayed, attacked by insect, etc., were also nonviable. Common Name Phulai Kala Shirin Amaltas Shisham Iple Iple Germination % 58 27 4 15 11 helped to keep the layer moist. The seeds were arranged in a regular equidistant pattern on the surface of the paper. Seeds arranged in an orderly way were easier to count. Top and bottom of a dish were labeled with the accession number, treatment and number of the replicate, and date of the test. The filter paper was moistened by dropping drops from the water bottle. Care was taken not to make the surface of the paper wet as it causes seed suffocation and promotes fungal growth. Distilled water was used rather than the tap water to avoid risk of fungal growth. Germination was recorded daily for about 4 to 6 weeks and germination percentage of a species was calculated accordingly. Completely randomized design (CRD) was applied for analysis of germination data collected from different dormancy breaking treatments. If treatment means differed significantly from one another (P<0.05), Least Significant Test (LSD) was applied for means separation. RESULTS The results regarding different seed characters of five legume tree species are as follows: Seed germination testing When seeds of these species were sown in polythene bags in nursery, low germination of only 58, 27, 4, 15 and 11 percent was recorded for Phulai (Acacia modesta), Kala Shirin (Albizia lebbeck), Amaltas (Cassia fistula), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo) and Iple Iple (Leucaena leucocephala) seeds, respectively. The low germination of seeds suggested that non-germinated seeds were either dormant or unviable ones. Therefore, viability of seeds was also checked (see next section, please) to know whether seeds were dormant ones (Table 1). Seed dormancy breaking The high viability of the seed compared to the initial germination percentage tested under Section 3.2 above suggested that seed was dormant one. For breaking seed dormancy different treatments were applied in the laboratory. Twenty seeds of a species with three replicates were placed on the thick double filter paper layer in the Petri dish. The double filter paper layer Seed viability testing Seed viability by floating as well as cutting method was quite higher than germination percentage of all the species suggesting that seeds of the species were dormant ones. Viability is the possession in a seed of those processes essential for the seed to germinate. It Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review 221. Basic Res. J. Agric. Sci. Rev. Table 2. Comparison of seed viability by floating and cutting methods Scientific Name Common Name Acacia modesta Albizia lebbeck Cassia fistula Dalbergia sissoo Leucaena leucocephala Phulai Kala Shirin Amaltas Shisham Iple Iple Viability by Floating Method 74 93 100 10 96 Viability by Cutting Method 92 89 90 98 98 Table 3. Germination means of Acacia modesta after different dormancy breaking treatments Treatment T1 = Soaking in water for 24 h T2 = Soaking in hot water for 5 h T3 = Acid scarification for 10 min T4 = Acid scarification for 15 min T5 = Nicking T6 = Control Std Mean* LSD Germination Mean 12.33c 8.66d 15.00bc 15.67ab 18.33a 13.33bc 1.04 3.22 a, b, c,d Means within a column with different letters are different (P = 0.05) from one another *Standard error of the mean. refers to both readily germinable seeds and seeds that are dormant. Viability is often taken to be synonymous with germination, but these are two separate concepts. A seed may be viable, but this does not imply that it will germinate: the seed may be dormant and will remain so until it is exposed to dormancy-breaking conditions and favourable germination conditions arise (Ahirwar, 2012). The lower germination percentage compared to high seed viability in all the selected species suggested that seeds were dormant ones (Table 2). Therefore, seed dormancy breaking treatments were applied for improving germination percentage. Dormancy breaking Different dormancy breaking treatments were applied to the selected legume species. The effect of these treatments on germination of different species is discussed one by one below: Germination response of Acacia modesta Germination means of different dormancy breaking treatments differed significantly (P<0.01) from one another. The treatment nicking was the best method for germination improvement which gave 92% (30% higher value than that of the control one) and hot water treatment gave the lowest germination value of only 43%. The control showed 62% germination which was better than that of hot water and normal water treatments but lower than other treatments of acid scarification and nicking (Table 3). Germination response of Albizia lebbeck Germination means of different dormancy breaking treatments in Albizia lebbeck did not differ significantly (P value was quite high, i.e., 0.984). Since P value was quite higher than the significance level, therefore, LSD test was not applied for multiple comparisons. However, acid scarification for 15 minutes gave the highest germination (82%) followed by hot water soaking with 80% germination (Table 4). Germination response of Cassia fistula Nicking and acid scarification were the best method for germination improvement in Cassia fistula. Both the treatments gave 100% germination (P<0.01) (Table 5). Hot water treatment gave only 13% germination. The control showed 5% germination which was significantly lower than other treatments of acid scarification, nicking and hot water. Germination Response of Dalbergia sissoo The highest germination response was in the normal Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review Naqeeb et al. 222 Table 4. Analysis of variance for germination of Albizia lebbeck after various dormancy breaking treatments SOURCE TREAT ERROR TOTAL DF SS 17.77 108.00 125.77 MS 3.55 9.00 F 0.400 P ns 0.984 ns CV% 20.15 = Not significant Table 5. Germination means of Cassia fistula after different dormancy breaking treatments Treatment T1 = Soaking in hot water for 24 h T2 = Acid scarification for 30 min. T3 = Nicking and soaking for 16 h T4 = Control Std Mean* Germination Mean b 2.67 a 20.00 a 20.00 c 1.00 0.44 1.44 a,b,c Means within a column with different letters are different (P = 0.05) from one another. *Standard error of the mean. Table 6. Germination means of Dalbergia sissoo after different dormancy breaking treatments Treatment T1: Hot water treatment for 6 h T2: Hot water treatment for 2 h T3: Normal water soaking for 2 h T4: Control Std Mean* Germination Mean b 2.33 C 0.00 a 19.67 a 19.00 0.55 1.80 a, b, c Means within a column with different letters are different (P = 0.05) from one another *Standard error of the mean. Table 7. Germination means of Leucaenea leucocephala after Different dormancy breaking treatments Treatment T1 = Hot water soaking for 24 h T2 = Acid scarification for 5 min T3 = Acid scarification for 10 min T4 = Nicking and soaking for 1 h T5 = Control Std Mean* Germination Mean b 15.00 b 11.00 a 19.33 a 19.67 c 1.33 1.29 4.07 a, b, c Means within a column with different letters are different (P = 0.05) from one another *Standard error of the mean. water soaking for 2 h (P<0.01) but it slightly improved germination percentage over the control. Good germination percentage of this species can be obtained without any seed treatment. The normal water soaking gave 98% germination which is only 3% higher than that of the control one (Table 6). Germination response of Leucaenea leucocephala Germination means among different dormancy breaking treatments differed significantly from one another (P<0.01). Nicking and acid scarification gave the highest germination of 98% and 97%, respectively. The hot water and acid scarification for 5 minutes gave comparatively Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review 223. Basic Res. J. Agric. Sci. Rev. lower values of 75% and 55% only. The lowest germination of 6% only was recorded in the untreated seed (Table 7). DISCUSSION Legume trees are an important part of world ecosystem. They provide food, fodder, fuel and timber to mankind. Different seed characteristics were studied. Seed size variation has several important ecological implications. It may affect seed germination. Seedling establishment varies with seed size. Large seeds tend to produce seedlings that are more likely to survive to maturity than seedlings from smaller seeds, though not always. It may affect seed germination (Ahirwar, 2012; Aiken and Springer, 1985; Alexander and Wulf, 1986; Weis, 1982). Seedling emergence (Berdahl and Barker, 1984; Finstad, 1984) and seedling establishment (Gross and Werner, 1982; Schall, 1980; Winn, 1985) varies with seed size. Growth rate is also affected because large seeds grow faster than the small ones (Marshall, 1986). Competitive ability of a plant depends upon the amount of food stored in their seeds. Seeds having large amount of food have better competitive ability than those seeds which have less food contents (Dolan, 1984). Large seeds tend to produce seedlings that are more likely to survive to maturity than the seedlings produced from the smaller seeds, though it does not always happen (Carleton and Cooper, 1972; Wulf, 1986). There were 22,744 seeds per kg of Acacia modesta. The viability data showed that seeds had high viability suggesting that the internal parts of seed were ready to germinate but they were unable to germinate due to hard seed coat. When dormancy breaking treatments were given, germination percentage was improved significantly. Among dormancy breaking treatments, nicking gave maximum germination while hot water gave the lowest germination percentage suggesting the seeds could not sustain the shock of high temperature which impaired germinating capability of the seed. This result is consistent with the study made by Bhardwaj et al. (2003). The number of seeds of Kala Shirin (Albizia lebbeck) per kg was 8,340. The comparison of initial germination with viability testing indicated that seeds were dormant ones. In Albizia lebbeck the poor germination is because of slow imbibition due to hard seed coat (Khan and Tripathy, 1987) and existence of a micropylar plug (Dell, 1980). In this study, treatments of acid scarification for 15 minutes and soaking in hot water for 3 h were found excellent for improving germination percentage. The acid removed the exogenous dormancy. Hard seed coat is the main hindrance in improving germination of Albizia species (Babeley et al., 1986, Rai et al., 1986 and Sur et al., 1987). The findings of this study were also in harmony with the findings of these authors. Since hot water treatment compared to acid scarification is easy to apply and cheaper, it is recommended for enhancing germination in this species. There were 7,192 seeds per kg of Amaltas (Cassia fistula Linn.). The seeds were large in size and had blanket like outer covering. Among the dormancy breaking treatments, acid scarification for 30 minutes and nicking were the best ones to remove not only the hard seed coat but also micropylar plug. These treatments were found suitable for breaking physical dormancy of the seeds of this species. This result is consistent with the results of the study conducted by Bahorun et al. (2005). The number of seeds per kg was 22,753 of Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo Linn.). Acid scarification did not show any increase in germination of Dalbergia sissoo rather it was found injurious to the tissue of the seed. Keeping in view, the thin and soft seed coat of Dalbergia sissoo, acid scarification and nicking treatments should be avoided. Similarly hot water treatment was also detrimental to seed viability of this species and these negative effects were proportional to time of soaking. In this study, maximum germination was obtained from the seeds of Dalbergia sissoo when soaked in tap water for two hours. Results suggested that good germination of this species can be obtained without any seed treatment. The seeds counted as 24,331 per kg of Iple Iple (Leucaena leucocephala Lam.). When dormancy breaking treatments were applied nicking and acid scarification were found suitable for improving seed germination. At initial level, the acid scarification for 5 minutes improved germination but when duration of acid scarification was prolonged up to 10 minutes, the result was outstanding (96%). In this study, seeds of all the species except Dalbergia sissoo, had hard coat he that was impervious to water. When treatments were applied for softening the seed coat, significant improvement in germination was recorded. This suggested that low germination was due to physical dormancy, which retarded penetration of water to inside the seed. Hard seed coat was responsible for unavailability of water, oxygen and other nutrients to the embryo. However, when dormancy breaking treatments of hot water, acid scarification and nicking for different time intervals were applied, which improved germination significantly. The findings of this study revealed that acid scarification and nicking were the best methods for dormancy breaking. However, acid treatment is dangerous and needs proper care and protocol for application, and is also costly one. Nicking is time consuming and laborious, hence recommended only when quick germination response for growing a limited number of seedlings is desirable. Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review Naqeeb et al. 224 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The following seed dormancy breaking treatments are recommended for improving germination of the selected legume trees of Islamabad area: Nicking and soaking for one h of seeds proved to be the best method for obtaining maximum germination percentage of 92% for Acacia modesta. Acid scarification for 15 minutes showed the highest germination percentage of 82% for Albizia lebbeck, hence recommended for improving germination of this species. However, to avoid acid use, soaking seeds in hot water for three h may be adopted which gave germination (80%) at par to acid treatment. Nicking as well as acid scarification for 30 minutes is recommended to boost up germination (100%) in Cassia fistula seeds. In case of Dalbergia sissoo seeds, no dormancy was observed hence no treatment is required for attaining good germination; though soaking in water for two h improved germination by 3%. Nicking in the seeds of Leucaena leucocephala gave 98% germination, hence recommended when prompt germination response is desirable for small scale planting activities. For bulk seed, acid scarification for 10 minutes is recommended that gave 97% germination. REFERENCES Ahirwar JR (2012). Effect of seed size and weight on seed germination of Alangium lamarchii, Akola. Res. J. 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Effect of seed harvesting season and sterilization treatments on germination and in vitro propagation of Albizia lebbeck (L.) benth. Fascicula Biologe 2: 151-156. Published by Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review