Effect of pretreatment on growth and early seedling performance of diospyros mespiliformis.

An investigation was carried out to determine the effect of pre-treatment on emergence, growth and early seedling performance of Diospyros mespiliformis .This is a highly economic wide spread indigenous savannah species which has been recorded to grow quite slowly. The experiment consisted of eleven treatment combinations (control inclusive) replicated five times in a completely randomized design. Seed were mechanically scarified at the helium (T1) and soaked in tap water for 24 hours (T2).Four wet heat treatment; (T3-T6) seed were soaked in 600c hot water for 3,5,10 and 15minutes respectively. For the acid treatments (T7-T10) seeds were placed in concentrated hydrochloric acid (HCL) for 3,5,10 and 15 minutes respectively. Pre-treated seeds were sown by their respective treatments T1-T10 with T0 representing the control in germination trays filled with sterilized river sand. At the production of 2-3 fully expanded leaves, five (5) uniform seedlings from each of the treatments were  pricked into poly pots containing top soil and replicated five times in a completely randomized design. Result shows that the treatment with seeds soaked in cold water for 24 hrs (T2) and hot water at 600c for 3minutes(T3) produced better seedlings with overall growth performance in terms of increment in height, collar girth and leaf production. These were closely followed by seedlings produced from seeds treated with 5 minutes concentrated hydrochloric acid (T8). Analysis of the result further revealed that there was no significant difference in early seedling growth of D. Mespiliformis under the different pre-germination treatments. Keywords: pre-treatment, Diospyros mespiliformis, seedling, growth performance