Germination Value

Solanum surattense is an important constituent of well known Ayurvedic drug “Dasmula” and “Arkadhi”. All plant parts are used in Ayurveda. The seed paste is applied on toothache and seed powder is smoked in asthma. The plant is very prickly diffuse, procumbent, often becomes perennial reaching a spread of a meter or so under luxuries conditions., Three types of flower bearing plants i.e. dark purple, light purple and white were observed, which differs in their density and colour. The density of white-flowered plants is very low and rarely found in natural habitats. In the present investigations, fresh seeds of S. surattense showed maximum germination percentage, root and shoot lengths with 5 mg l-1 GA3, while one year old seeds showed in 50 mg l-1 GA3.The results of Germination value and Vigour Index did not show any definite trend.

Convolvulus microphyllus (Shankhapushpi) is an important medicinal plant of the Indian Thar Desert. In the present study one year storage effect of seeds on germination behaviour, seedling growth, root: shoot ratio (R/S ratio), germination value (GV) and vigour index (VI) in comparison with fresh ones have been reported. Seeds were scarified with con. H2SO4 for different durations (10-90 min). Seeds were also mechanically treated with sand paper to enhance germination and kept for germination under controlled laboratory conditions. Results revealed that 100% seed germination and the maximum values for root & shoot lengths, R/S ratio, mean daily germination (MDG), germination value (GV) in fresh and one year old seeds and vigour index (VI) of fresh seeds were observed in acid scarification for 45 min duration. Maximum peak value of germination (PV) in fresh and one year old seeds and vigour index (VI) of old seeds were noted with 30 min of acid scarification duration.