The influence of various pre-sowing treatments on germination of akle (Albizia acle (Blanco) Merr.) seeds

The objective of this study was to evaluate the most suitable pre-treatment method that will increase germination of Albizia acle seeds. The experiment was carried out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and four hundred Akle seeds were used as an experimental material subjected to different pre-sowing treatments on germination such as Treatment 0 (T0) - control, Treatment 1 (T1) - hot soaking, Treatment 2 (T2) - cold soaking, Treatment 3 (T3) - sulfuric acid, and Treatment 4 (T4) - mechanical scarification, with four replications with twenty assessment units per replication. The effect of these treatments was evaluated through percentage germination, percentage germinative energy, and percentage germinative capacity after 30 days of observation. The seeds treated by sulfur acid (T-4) showed the highest percentage in terms of percentage germination and percentage germinative capacity (95% and 97.5%, respectively). Meanwhile, the seeds from Treatment 1 (hot soaking) had the highest percentage germinative energy with 58.75%. The overall results confirm that the most significant impact on germination and quality seedlings on Akle seeds had sulfur acid (T4 treatment).