Seed priming durations and concentrations influence on germination and seedling growth of bitter gourd

Abstract

Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is one of the
most important seasonal summer vegetable crop
cultivated extensively in tropical and sub-tropical parts
of the country and is believed to have been originated in
India. Bitter gourd is very bitter in taste due to the
presence of cucurbitacin. The crop requires warm and
hot climate for its optimum growth, hence in colder
region, poor and slow seedling emergence is always a
problem. Another reason for poor germination is its thick
seed coat enclosing embryo, which affect germination
by imposing mechanical restriction on embryo growth.
To overcome these problems, various pre-sowing seed
treatments can be practiced (Muhammad et al. 2014