Vol. 11, Issue 10 (2022)

Terminalia chebula is an important medicinal tree species in Asian countries. It is considered as the "King of Medicines “and is always listed at the top in Ayurvedic Materia Medica due to its extraordinary power of healing. However, Large scale planting program of the species is often difficult due to non-availability of quality planting material, which is impacted by low seed germination & longer germination period. The present Investigation was conducted in the nursery unit of the Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry, Forest College and Research Institute, Mulugu, Telangana during 2021-2022. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with ten treatments and three replications. Ninety seeds of Terminalia chebula were used for each treatment and these seeds were sown on seedbed of 10m x 1m with potting media of soil, sand, and FYM in 2:1: 1. Among all the treatments, seeds of Terminalia chebula soaked in water treatment (room temperature) for 24 hours (T3) was shown significantly superior performance with respect to germination percentage (78.88%) and Germination Energy (50.0%). However, maximum survival percentage (98.07%), Shorter Germination period (19 days), maximum root length (11.20 cm), shoot length (14.22 cm), Number of Leaves (7.81) and Collar diameter (1.93 cm), was observed in GA3 500 ppm for 24 hours (T9). While, Dry weight of Root (1.30 g) and Shoot (1.75 g) was influenced by GA3 300 ppm (T8) whereas shoot: root ratio was maximum (2.80) in 50% Conc. H2SO4 for 2 minutes (T4). Therefore, pre-sowing treatment of seeds soaked in water treatment (room temperature) for 24 hours was more effective in germination and GA3 of 500 ppm for 24 hours was found to give better growth of quality seedlings of Terminalia chebula in the nursery.