Abstract

Teak fruits collected from 7 middle aged plantations in Trichur Forest Division, Kerala falling in moist teak zone were size graded and after various presowing treatments sown in vermiculite and sand media in germination trays for a 30 day observation period in a factorial RBD experiment. A cutting test performed before hand using a modified teak seed cutter on the ungraded and size graded teak fruits estimated the average emptiness and viability. The germinated seedlings from the 40 treatment combinations were transplanted from germination trays into poly bags and biometric biomass observations recorded at the end of 3 months. Analysis of results revealed that there was a distinct advantage in using large sized fruits. The actual germination per cent ranged from 5. 67 to 46. 77 in all the treatments. Pretreatment of seeds by soaking in GA3 100ppm solution for 12 hours yielded the best results out of the 4 pretreatments tested with respect to germination characteristics