Thakur, TanyaNardev Singh2022-07-302022-07-302022Nardev Singh (2022) Effect of seed treatment and media on germination and seedling growth of flowering annuals (Unpublished M.Sc. thesis). Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810185957The present experiment entitled “Effect of seed treatment and media on germination and seedling growth of flowering annuals” was carried out at Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab during the year 2020-21. The seeds of two flowering annuals i.e. pansy and annual chrysanthemum were given pre sowing seed treatment for 24 hours with water, Thiourea @ 50 ppm, KNO3 @ 0.1%, KNO3 @ 0.2%, GA3 @ 25 ppm, GA3 @ 50 ppm and GA3 @ 75 ppm. After seed treatment the seeds were sown in trays/pots as per different media compositions i.e. soil: FYM (1:1), soil: sand: vermicompost (1:1:1), soil: sand: FYM (1:1:1), soil: sand: leaf manure (1:1:1), soil: cocopeat: vermicompost (1:1:1) and soil: leaf manure (1:1). The results revealed that seed treatment with GA3 and media treatment soil: cocopeat: vermicompost (1:1:1) led to the significant changes in the seed germination as well as seedling growth traits in both the flowering annuals. The seeds of both the annuals treated with GA3 @ 25 ppm resulted in minimum imbibition period, germination period and maximum germination percentage (80.00 and 90.33%), shoot length, root length, vigour index, fresh weight (12.94 and 5.64g), dry weight (1.31 and 0.58g) and SPAD index. In pansy maximum germination index and rate of emergence was found under GA3 @ 25 ppm whereas in annual chrysanthemum these values were highest under GA3 @ 50 ppm. Among different media treatments, seed sown in soil: cocopeat: vermicompost (1:1:1) recorded minimum imbibition period, germination period, maximum germination percentage (79.84 and 86.61%), germination index (0.60 and 0.78), rate of emergence (16.72 and 53.07) survival percentage (82.38 and 100%), shoot length, root length, vigour index, fresh weight (12.33 and 5.33g), dry weight (1.24 and 0.54g) and SPAD index in both flowering annuals. Considering the interaction effect between media and seed treatments, the combination of GA3 @ 25 ppm with soil: cocopeat: vermicompost (1:1:1) recorded minimum imbibition period, germination period and maximum germination percentage (87.77 and 92.24%), shoot length, root length, vigour index, fresh weight (14.04 and 5.87g), dry weight (1.42 and 0.59g) and SPAD index. Therefore, it was concluded that the best seed treatment for raising seedlings in both the flowering annuals was GA3 @ 25 ppm and the best media was soil: cocopeat: vermicompost (1:1:1).EnglishThesis