Abstract

Termite-aided mesocarp removal of teak fruits is an efficient pre-sowing treatment for early and enhanced germination. In a test at Kerala Forest Research Institute, fruits were left heaped in open-ground infested with subterranean termites (Odontotermes guptai), mixed with dry twigs and kept sufficiently moist. The termites ate away the entire mesocarp within 13 days leaving behind fruits with stony endocarp. The cumulative germination 20 days after sowing for the termite-treated fruits was 10. 7 percent, compared with only 3 percent in an alternate wetting and drying (weathering) treatment for 13 daysafter 45 days the corresponding figures were 45 percent and 17. 3 percent respectively. Mesocarp removal reduced seed volume to 33 percent and weight to 61 percent, which in turn reduces the seed handling costs