Improving Germination of Papaya Seed by Density Separation, Potassium Nitrate, and Gibberellic Acid

Abstract

Abstract Poor germination in Carica papaya L. was partly due to the absence of embryos in about 20% of the seeds. Final germination and the rate of seedling emergence were improved by seed separation with 1.097 g·em −3 sucrose solution and soaking with 1.0 M potassium nitrate (KNO 3 ) or 600 ppm gibberellic acid (GA 3 ). Final germination was 87.8% for the KNO 3 treatment and 80.5% for GA 3 . Seedlings from KNO 3 treatments were normal, whereas GA 3 caused excessive elongation of stems.