PRE-SOWING TREATMENTS FOR ENHANCED SEEDLING EMERGENCE OF PINK SHOWER (Cassia nodosa Buch. –Ham. Ex Roxb.) SEEDS IN NURSERY

Pink shower (Cassia nodosa: Fabaceae family) is a flowering shade tree used in landscape garden and parkplanting. Seeds of C.nodosa experience dormancy which delays germination and early seedling establishment,and there is limited information addressing pre-sowing treatment of the species. The experiment investigatedeffects of some pre-sowing treatments(soaking for 3, 6 and 12 hours; two water temperature regimes – 60o and80oC) on Seedling Emergence (SE) of C. nodosa.A3 x 2 factorial experiment in completely randomised designwith five replications was used. Treatments were applied on both mechanically scarified and non-scarified seeds.Daily and total SE counts were taken for 84 Days After Sowing (DAS). Data were analysed by use of simplestatistics and ANOVA at p<0.05. Results showed that days to first SE ranged from 4.4 to 5.8 DAS in scarifiedseeds, and 5.2 to 8.6 DAS in non-scarified seeds. The scarified seeds given various pre-sowing treatmentcombinations progressed beyond 50% SE at 84 DAS. Scarified seeds pre-soaked in 60°C water for 3 hours gaverelatively highest cumulative SE (76%±8.9), while least SE (32%±11.0) was obtained from non-scarified seedspre-soaked in 80°C hot water for 3 hours. In conclusion, the combination of mechanical scarification of seeds andsoaking in 60°C water for 3 hours enhanced seedling emergence of Cassia nodosa

EFFECT OF PHYTOHORMONE AND PHENOLOGY ON DOMESTICATION OF Pentaclethra macrophylla Benth. BY MARCOTTING IN DERIVED SAVANNA ZONE OF SOUTHEAST NIGERIA

Marcotting is a method of vegetative propagation which still finds its relevance in the present day domestication and routine plant multiplication efforts of indigenous fruit trees including, Pentaclethramacrophylla (Fabaceae family). There is dearth of information regarding propagation of P. macrophyllaby marcotting. Hence effects of phytohormone application and tree phenology on P.macrophyllapropagation by marcotting were investigated in Ishiagu located in the derived savanna agro-ecological zone of South-east Nigeria. Marcotting of P. macrophylla, effect of Indole Butyric Acid (IBA) and Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) phytohormones application (range 0.1% – 0.3% and 0.05% –0.1% concentrations, respectively) and different marcotting seasons were studied in field experiments. The plots were laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated three times. Three branches of each tree replicate were marcotted at two-month interval (starting from January to November) across the year. Percent callus and adventitious roots formation, number and length of adventitious roots were assessed. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA.Results of combined effects of IBA and NAA on rooting of marcotted branches showed that both auxin treatments had generally unimpressive adventitious root production effect on P. macrophylla at eight weeks after marcotting (WAM). The branches however, produced callus tissues freely around the girdled portions of branches,which is a definite indication of ensuing rooting process that might have been delayed. Only treatment of 0.2% IBA+0NAA gave significantly highest mean with 100% callusing at 8 WAM; while least mean (50%) callusing was produced with 0.1% IBA+0 NAA and 0.2% IBA+0.05% NAA. July marcotted branches produced significantly highest percent callus (100%), adventitious roots(75%), number of roots (2.2±0.8) and root length (34.2±8.7cm) among the different marcotting seasons