Vol. 11, Issue 11 (2022)

Sandalwood (Santalum Album L.) is a commercially important indigenous tropical tree belongs to the family Santalaceae. The species is being raised as large scale plantation in both forest and outside forest areas. The main source of these plantations through its seeds which is difficult to germinate and needs special chemical treatment. But due to its hard seed coat limits seed germination. Seed encapsulation technique has a significant impact on germination and seedling quality in forestry crops. So far experiment was conducted at Agroforestry experimental area of Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur (MP) in the year 2021 with an aim to find best pre-sowing treatments to enhance germination of Sandalwood (Santalum album L.). Seeds were collected from three different locations viz. Seoni (MP), Marayoor (Kerala) and TFRI campus, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and treated with different treatments which includes growth regulators (G3 500 ppm and 1000 ppm), Cow urine (100% concentrated), Normal Water (24 hrs) and untreated seeds as control. Among all the treatments seeds treated with GA₃ (1000 ppm) recorded maximum germination percentage (55%) followed by Cow urine (48%) as compared to control of TFRI location, Similarly Seoni source also showed maximum seeds germination 44% was recorded with GA₃( 1000 ppm )treatment followed by GA₃, 500 ppm (37%) and minimum germination 4.66% was recorded in untreated seeds. Seeds procured from Marayoor Kerala registered similar findings i.e. maximum germination with GA₃, 1000 ppm (51.33%) followed by GA₃, 500 ppm (50.66%) and minimum 21.33% in Untreated seeds. The variations in germination percentage within treatment not correlated with geographic locations and soil conditions.