Abstract

STUDIES ON IN VITRO AND EX VITRO SEED GERMINATION OF PASSIFLORA FOETIDA USING VARIOUS SEED GERMINATION ENHANCING SUBSTANCES

*Dr. H. David Raja, K. Ramkumar, P. Srinivasan and R. Tamilvanan

ABSTRACT

Passiflora foetida L. (Stinking passion flower) which belongs to the family Passifloraceae is an exotic medicinal vine. The decoction of Passiflora foetida leaves and unripe fruits is used to treat snake bites, women infertility, epilepsy, abscess, hysteria and emmenagogue which is extensively used in the Iranian folk medicine because of their strong antibacterial activity. Due to presence of hard seed coat nature Passiflora foetida seeds required some special treatment for efficient seed germination. An in vitro and ex vitro seed germination protocol was developed for Passiflora foetida using different seed treatments methods such as Vermiwash, Coconut Water (CW) and GA3 (10%) in time duration of 12 hours and 24 hours. Among the various seed treatments in in vitro and ex vitro studies, Vermiwash treatments showed maximum results with respect to seed germination percentage(In vitro: 12 hours 100% & 24 hours 95% and Ex vitro: 12 hours 85% & 24 hours 80%) and shoot length (In vitro: 12 hours 7.2 cm & 24 hours 7.0 cm and Ex vitro: 12 hours 5.8 cm & 24 hours 5.5 cm). These results reveal that Passiflora foetida seeds were required some germination enhancing substances to achieve the maximum seed germination in both in vitro and ex vitro conditions.

Keywords: Seed germination, Shoot length, Vermiwash, Coconut water, GA3, Passiflora foetida.