Effect of different media on seed germination and growth of Adenium obesum

Abstract

Adenium obesum is a succulent plant commonly known as ‘Desert Rose’ and is an important ornamental pot plant propagated through seed, cuttings and grafting methods. The plant is in massive demand for its striking flower colours and sculptural caudex. The plants propagated through seeds form better and bigger caudex and media plays a very important role in germination of seeds and growth of plants. So, an experiment was conducted for two years (2020-21 and 2021-22) to study the effect of media on seed germination and growth of adenium. Ten media compositions comprising four media i.e., sand, cocopeat, farm yard manure and vermicompost alone as well as mix compositions of these media in different ratio (v/v) were used as substrate in the experiment. The experiment was conducted in CRD design in trays. The results reveal that sowing of seeds of adenium in cocopeat as well as sand resulted in maximum germination percentage (89.29 % and 84.88 %, respectively) whereas germination speed index (5.66) was found maximum in sand. For seedling growth parameters, media composition of cocopeat + vermicompost (1:1 v/v) gave the maximum number of leaves (22.20), caudex diameter (2.32 cm), caudex length (3.13 cm) and tap root length (7.36 cm).