Improvement of Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) Benth. Seeds Emergence Using Hot Saline Water Treatment Durations

Leucaena leucocephala is a leguminous shrub that has the potential for increasing animal production with diverse environmental and ecological significance. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of hot saline water treatment durations on the emergence of Leucaena seeds. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design with six treatments and three replicates. The treatments are control, soaking of seeds in hot saline water (20 g NaCl/1 L of distilled water) at 80°C for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5-min durations. The percentage emergence, emergence index, plant height and leave numbers were measured. Hot saline water treatment durations had positive effect of breaking Leucaena seed dormancy and enhance germination. The highest percentage emergence and emergence index (53.9% and 7.95) were obtained at 2 min treatment durations but plant height and number of leaves were highest (6.29 cm and 7.00 cm) respectively in 4 min of treatment durations. It could be concluded that percentage emergence and seedling growth of Leucaena can be enhanced using 2 min hot saline water treatment duration. It is recommended that saline soils that have being degraded due to oil spillage to enable production of Leuceana as animal feed and control environmental degradation.