Vol. 10, Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Sinchana Jain NR, KD Patel and Chandana S

Abstract:
Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is the most popular tropical fruit crop which is valued for its wholesome and delicious fruit. Universally it is propagated sexually by seeds. However storage behavior of papaya seeds is still contradictory to recalcitrant or orthodox. Therefore to know the storage behavior of papaya seeds the experiment was conducted at Junagadh Agricultural University. Fifteen treatment combinations viz., T₁ (-4 ℃ with 6% MC), T₂ (0℃ with 6% MC), T₃ (4 ℃ with 6% MC), T₄ (8 ℃ with 6% MC), T₅ (Room temperature with 6% MC), T₆ (-4 ℃ with 8% MC), T₇ (0 ℃ with 8% MC), T₈ (4 ℃ with 8% MC), T₉ (8 ℃ with 8% MC), T₁₀ (Room temperature with 8% MC), T₁₁ (-4℃ with 10% MC), T₁₂ (0 ℃ with 10% MC), T₁₃ (4 ℃ with 10% MC), T₁₄ (8 ℃ with 10% MC) and T₁₅ (Room temperature with 10% MC) were assessed with factorial concept in completely randomized design with three replications. The results concluded that T5 (Room temperature with 6% MC) showed highest germination percentage (62.00), seed vigor index length and mass (337.90 and 20.56), shoot length (82.5), root length (26.08), seedling length (40.00), number of leaves (8.85), fresh weight (2.52) and dry weight (1.26) over all other treatments after the storage period of 1 month. T1 (-4 ℃ with 6% MC) exhibits highest seed viability percentage (80.33) over all other treatments after the storage period of 1 month. The seed and seedling growth parameters decrease as the storage period increases. The result clearly indicates that papaya seeds are desiccation tolerant but freezing sensitive which confirms its intermediate storage behavior.