Germination performance and seedling characteristics of chili pepper after seed priming with leaf extract of Moringa oleifera
¹Universitas Padjadjaran, Faculty of Agriculture, Jalan Raya Bandung-Sumedang KM 21, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia
²Universitas Padjadjaran, Faculty of Agro-industrial Technology, Jalan Raya Bandung-Sumedang KM 21, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia
*Correspondence: nita13007@mail.unpad.ac.id
Abstract:
Germination is the most critical stage of the plant life cycle since it is a principal component of seedling establishment and survival. The germination of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) seeds is typically slow and non-uniform under favorable and unfavorable conditions. To overcome these problems, seed priming with moringa leaf extract is a viable option. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of moringa leaf extract priming on germination performance and seedling characteristics of chili pepper. A completely randomized design was applied with five replications. Different concentrations of moringa leaf extract (1:30, 1:20, and 1:10) as priming solution were evaluated along with priming with distilled water (hydro priming), whereas non-primed seed was taken as control. The results revealed that hydro priming and moringa leaf extract priming effectively increased final germination percentage, germination rate index, germination index, vigor index, shoot length, and decreasing mean germination time. Conversely, the treatments had no significant effect on root length, while moringa leaf extract-primed seeds significantly increased shoot fresh weight. Furthermore, priming with moringa leaf extract at 1:20 had slightly better results than hydro priming, since it yielded higher germination index (363.60) and germination rate index (13.74), although it was at par with other concentrations. Additionally, it significantly produced the highest root fresh weight (13.56 mg) and lower coefficient of variation of germination time (14.61) than the control. Based on these findings, priming with moringa leaf extract in amount of 1:20 can be suggested for improving germination and seedling growth of chili pepper.
Key words:
biostimulant, Capsicum annuum, germination index, moringa leaf extract, vigor index