Combining Pre-sowing Treatments in Faidherbia albida (Delile) A. Chev. does not Imply Better Germination Success

Aims: Seed dormancy has been an impeding factor in seedling recruitment. In this study we examined the performance of Faidherbia albida (Delile) A. Chev. seeds when exposed to the hot water + nicking pre-sowing treatment by evaluating the Cumulative Germination Percentage (CGP), Germination Velocities (GV) and Survival Percentages (SP).

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out in the shade house of the Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea between November 2014 and December 2014.

Methodology: One hundred and eighty viable seeds were exposed to the hot water, nicking, hot water + nicking combination and control treatments, respectively, in germination boxes watered (8 litres) once a week for the duration of the experiment (40 days).

Results: We found significant differences between the type of pre-sowing treatment and resulting Daily Germination Percentages (DGP) (χ2 = 261.299, P <.001). The highest CGP (74.4%), GV (16) and SP (93.3%) were obtained using the nicking treatment with the hot water + nicking combination treatment performance as CGP (56.1%), GV (13) and SP (63.4%) and the control, interestingly, produced the second best performance CGP (60.6%). The lowest CGP (51.1%) and GV (6) were obtained with the hot water treatment (51.1%).

Conclusion: Combining the two pre-sowing treatments does not positively influence germination. Nicking is the best pre-sowing treatment method that should be preferred and adopted in the propagation of F. albida.