Effect of Pre-sowing Treatments for Hastening the Germination of Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Jacq.) Griseb. and Hymenaea courbaril L.

The paper presents the results of an investigation carried out at the arboretum of Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, to find out the effect of pre-treatments on two exotic fast growing N₂ fixing leguminous tree species. Pre-treatments with hot water and concentrated H₂SO₄ were found to hasten the germination rate from 80 to 85% in Enterolobium cyclocarpum and from 67 to 80% in Hymenaea courbaril. With out pre-treatment, the germination per cent was found to be nil. Fire scorching gave lower per cent germination i.e. 47 to 60% than the other treatments. Hot water is recommended as an effective and cheap pre-treatment for nurseries in Agro or Farm or Social forestry programmes.