Seed Dormancy Breaking in Nightshade (Solanum trilobatum L.)

Nightshade (Solanum trilobatum L.) is one of the medicinal crops under Solanaceae family, often exhibits poor germination due to inherent seed dormancy. The present study was conducted to standardize the seed dormancy breaking treatments to improve the germination. The results clearly indicated that seeds treated with GA3 @ 200 ppm for 6 h recorded maximum seed germination (84%) along with high speed of germination (5.5), seedling length (3.25 cm root length and 3.82 cm shoot length), dry matter production (4.94 mg seedlings-10) and vigour index (584) when compared to treatments viz., KNO3 1.0% for 12 h (64%) and thiourea 0.5% for 6 h (50%), while the control recorded 38% of germination. The increase in duration of soaking with GA3 beyond 6 h. significantly reduced the seed germination with concomitant changes in seedling quality parameters. Hence, it could be concluded that breaking the seed dormancy through exogenous application of GA3, KNO3 and thiourea confirmed the presence of physiological dormancy in nightshade seeds and it could be effectively broken through soaking the seeds in GA3 @ 200 ppm for 6 h.