The Effect of Seed Weight on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl.

Loquat, a fruit crops, has been naturalized in Indonesia. Moreover, seed quality is an important factor for generative propagation of loquat. Based on field observation, there was variation on seed size of loquat. Therefore, this research aimed to determine the effect of seed size on the germination and seedling growth of loquat. This research was compiled using a Randomized Complete Design with four different seed groups as treatments. The loquat seeds were obtained from Danau Toba region and grouped based on the weight of seeds, i.e. Grade I (<0.6 g), Grade II (0.6 - <0.9 g), Grade III (0.9 - 1.2 g) and Grade IV (> 1.2 g). Percentage of germination, abnormal seedling, plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, root length, fresh and dry weight of plant were observed during experiment. The results showed that seed size affected all the observed parameters, except the roots length. In order to obtain the high quality seedling of loquat, suggested to use loquat seed with seed weight more than 1.2 g.