The The development of accelerated seed germination of palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer Linn.) in Phetchaburi province

Abstract

The palmyra haustorium is a part of palmyra palm seed germination which can be used to produce a variety of food products but the germination rate of the seeds naturally also experiencing a long period, which had affected its application. The objective of this research was to improve the germination process to produce the palmyra haustorium around Phetchaburi province by studying the effect of sulfuric acid concentration, the water temperature, and the time to break down the dormancy period in the process of accelerated seed germination of palmyra palm. The research methodology consisted of the study in the use of traditional germination methods according to the wisdom of farmers in Phetchaburi province by in-depth interviews followed by the problem analysis of the production. The results found that the selected method to stimulate the germination of seeds by soaking the seeds in water for 15-30 days with a germination rate of approximately 54-75% while this research stimulated the germination using a solution of sulfuric acid in the concentrations of 5, 10, and 15% v/v with soaking for 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours before the germination process compared with soaking in hot water at 60, 70, 80 and 90 ํC, respectively, for a different soaking time of 10-90 minutes each. The results exhibited that the highest germination rate of seeds was 91.11% which obtained by soaking in hot water at 70 °C for 40 minutes in 30 days after sowed while soaking in hot water at 70 °C for 20 minutes and 60 minutes had the germination rate of 88.89 % and 85.56%, respectively. Soaking the seeds in a solution of sulfuric acid showed a very low germination rate of 13-70%. For the control, the germination period of 30 days had a germination rate of 72-78%.