Vol. 7, Issue 7, Part F (2025)

The experiment was carried out at College of Horticulture, Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli. It was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with nine treatments and three replications. The treatments included water (T₁), GA₃ at concentrations of 50 ppm (T₂), 100 ppm (T₃), 150 ppm (T₄) and 200 ppm (T₅), cattle dung slurry (T₆), KNO₃ at 1.0% (T₇), Thiourea at 1.0% (T₈) and a control (T₉). The present investigation revealed that T₄ (GA₃ at 150 ppm) performed the best, recording the shortest time for first emergence (17.67 days) and highest germination percentage (89.67%). It also resulted in superior speed of emergence (33.86) and seed vigour (98.67%). Moreover, T₄ produced the tallest seedlings (30.21 cm) with the greatest girth (4.81 mm), highest number of leaves (20.43) and largest leaf area (82.42 cm²). Peak value (12.81% per day) was also highest under this treatment. Additionally, T₄ seedlings reached 80% graftable stage the fastest (170 days), with the highest percentage of graftable seedlings (98.82%) and final survival rate (86.67%).