Effects of Different Qualities of Light and Phytohormones on Seed Germination, Seedling Growth and Establishment of Papaya (Carica papaya) cv. Pusa Nanha

The present study was undertaken to study the effects of different qualities of light and phytohormones (GA3 @ 200ppm) on papaya seed germination, seedling growth, and establishment. The experiment was laid in Randomized Block Design. The experiment comprises of eight treatments viz. T0 {Natural Light (95000 lux)}, T1{Shade Net/Green House (Light 21500 lux)}, T2 {Polyhouse (light 7750 lux)}, T3 {Partially shaded area (light 2800 lux)}, T4 {Fully shaded area (light 880 lux)}, T5 {Incandescent Light (290 lux)}, T6 {Fluorescent Light (3000 lux)}, T7 {Growth Chamber Light (light 2500 lux)}. Among different treatments T6 performed best in terms of Seed germination, Seedling growth and Establishment of Papaya. The findings revealed that treatment T6 {Fluorescent Light (3000 lux)} + GA3 (200 ppm) performed best in term of Days to Germination (8 Days), Germination percentage (94.44%), Number of leaves (9.6), Plant height (16.23 cm), stem vigour index (1444.93), Leaf area (394.4 cm2), Chlorophyll content (41.47 SPAD value) and stem girth (0.37 cm), Establishment Percentage (93.33%). The highest B:C ratio was found in the same Treatment, T6 {Fluorescent Light (3000 lux)} + GA3 (200 ppm), with 3.5.