Seed Priming Significantly Affects Germination and Post Germination Early Seedling Growth in Okra

Seed priming significantly affects germination and post germination emergence in seedling of plants. Okra is an important vegetable plays significant role in human nutrition. However, little information is available regarding effect of seed priming on germination and post germination early vegetative growth. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted to find out the effect of seed priming on the emergence and seedling vigor in different okra varieties. Six local Bangladeshi okra varieties were primed in water for 24 hours and evaluated their germination and post germination emergence. The varieties were named as V₁-V₆ (V₁ = Flash power, V₂ = Durga, V₃ = BARI dheros-2, V₄ =Okra pornota, V₅ =Dandy all green, V₆ = Boishakhi). Post priming evaluation was done based on germination percentage, root-shoot length of seedlings, seedling height, and dry weight of seedlings, germination index and speed of germination at different days after sowing (5-15 DAS). Highest germination was observed in V₃ (88.00%) and lowest was in V₅ (25.33%). Root length was highest in V₃ and V₄ (8.77cm) and lowest was observed in V₂ (5.15cm). Shoot length of the seedlings was highest in V₃ (7.94cm) followed by V₁ (7.33). Shoot length of the seedlings was lowest in V₅ (5.12cm). Seedling height was highest in V₃ (16.71cm) which was followed by V₆ (16.26cm). The lowest seedling height was observed in V₁ (12.50cm). Dry weight of the seedlings was highest in V₃ (2.32g) which was followed in V₁ (2.26g). The lowest dry weight was observed in V₅ (1.99g). The variety V₃ performed better in most of the evaluated parameters and suggested for commercial cultivation.